Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, January 03, 2008
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JEFF YASTINE: Hopes for that January rally and fear about another big decline made for a choppy session today. The Dow clawed to a 90-point gain in the first half of the session, despite some notable weakness among components like Wal-Mart and Intel. The NASDAQ climbed 15 points by early afternoon, notching its high of the day. Then, worries heated up over tomorrow`s December employment report and what it will say about the economy and stocks headed lower into the close. So, the Dow up just 12.76 to 13,056.72. The NASDAQ falling 6.95 to 2,602.68 and the S&P 500 closing exactly unchanged at 1,447.16. In the bond market, the 10-year note gaining 3/32 to 102 29/32 and the yield dropping down to 3.89 percent.
Citigroup (C) tops our list today, gaining a penny on volume of 16.6 million shares.
CVS Caremark (CVS) losing a little over $2.50 after the drug store`s December same store sales grew up 1.8 percent and that was short of Street expectations. They blame bad weather and a late flu season.
Pfizer (PFE) gaining $0.27 and the company says it will appeal a Canadian Federal court ruling clearing the way for the sale of a generic version of its Lipitor cholesterol medicine.
Ford Motor (F) falling $0.15. As you heard, Ford`s December sales dropped 9 percent. It also looks like an Indian auto company, Tata Motors, may be the new owner of the Jaguar and Land Rover name plates. Ford named India`s Tata Motors as the preferred bidder for the sale of those two divisions.
EMC Corp (EMC) down $0.19.
Then GE (GE) adding just a fraction.
And another drug store chain, Rite Aid (RAD) down $0.41, again, disappointing December same store sales for that group.
Wells Fargo (WFC) falling $0.58.
Bank of America (BAC) down $0.26.
Time Warner (TWX) gaining just a fraction.
Then we have Monsanto (MON) shares, quite a sharp there (ph), soaring nearly $9.50 today. Its quarterly profit nearly tripling, boosted its 2008 outlook on huge demand for U.S. agricultural products around the globe and that helped a lot of the other ag stocks today.
Terra Industries (TRA), Mosaic Company (MOC), Potash (POT), those are fertilizer stocks, doing very well.
Syngenta Ag (SYT) up more than $4 also.
State Street Corp (STT) rising $6.49. The company said it expects 2007 profits to top estimates and that`s excluding about $900 million in charges and legal reserves related to sub-prime mortgage losses. Also State Street fired the head of their investment group, State Street Global Advisors today.
Superior Energy (SPN) adding more than $6, nearly $7. The oil field service firm winning a $750 million contract to de-commission seven oil production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico.
Unifirst Corp (UNF) rising just over $2.50. The maker of uniforms and protective clothing beating the Street with its fiscal first quarter results at $0.09 above estimates.
Wellcare Health Plans (WCG) adding more than $4. The analyst at CIBC thinks that ongoing government probe of Wellcare will have limited impact on the company.
And another big drug store chain, Walgreen (WAG) down 6 percent. Same store sales rose about half of what analysts had expected.
Then a couple of tax preparation firms, Jackson Hewitt Tax Ser (JTX) losing more than $7.
And H&R Block (HRB) down $0.86. The IRS may block tax preparation firms from offering those tax refund anticipation loans. The IRS says - excuse me, H&R Block says they`ll work with the IRS to develop a best practices protocol for that.
On the NASDAQ, Apple (AAPL) gaining $0.09.
Google (GOOG) up $0.14.
Intel (INTC) down for the day.
Baidu.com (BIDU) losing more than $6.
Microsoft (MSFT) up just a fraction.
Then we have - what`s our next one -- Research in Motion (RIMM) down $0.89.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) gaining just a fraction.
Oracle (ORCL) up $0.62.
Amazon.com (AMZN) giving back a little of what it gained yesterday.
And Dell (DELL) losing $0.68.
And we have Panera Bread (PNRA) dropping more than $3. December same store sales disappointing at just 1.2 percent.
And finally, Bed Bath and Beyond (BBBY), the stock hitting a new 52- week low today, down another 10 percent. After hours, their fourth quarter results they say will be far short of expectations thanks to the housing slump.
And those are our stocks in the news tonight.
