Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, January 14, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street began the week on a strong note thanks to that better than expected preliminary earnings estimate from IBM and word from General Motors that its auto loan problems were not nearly as bad as the real estate sector. At 11:00 a.m., the Dow was up 135 points; NASDAQ gained 32. After a mild mid-day pullback, stocks came on strong again on reports that Credit Suisse moved the U.S. stock market to an "overweight" rating. That helped stocks surge to the day's best levels at the final bell. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 171.85 points at 12,778.15. NASDAQ Composite jumped 38.36 ending at 2478.30. Standard & Poor's 500 Index up 15.23 to close at 1416.25. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 7/32 to 103 30/32, putting the yield at 3.77 percent.
Most active big board issue, familiar name, Citigroup (C) up $0.50 today, traded 22.6 million shares. Tomorrow, results are due out and CEO will address employees and he could announce reportedly up to 24,000 layoffs. Also a dividend cut could be in the offing and meanwhile, Dow Jones news service reported China Development Bank has rejected a plan to take a $2 billion stake in Citigroup.
Bank of America (BAC) second in volume, up $0.72.
General Electric (GE) $0.29 rise.
Countrywide Financial (CFC) losing $0.24.
And EMC Corp (EMC) up $0.80 a share, fifth in volume.
Then Pfizer (PFE) down a nickel.
Schering-Plough (SGP) fell $2.21 or 8 percent. The company and Merck announced their cholesterol drug Vitorin showed no better results than Merck's Zocor drug and Merrill Lynch downgraded Schering from "buy" to "neutral." Merck stock fell only $0.77.
Ford Motor Co (F) a $0.12 gain.
Micron Tech (MU) up $0.16.
And then AT&T (T) with a $0.31 advance.
Boeing (BA) up $1.15. The company received orders for 16 787 Dreamliner aircraft from Gulf Air Bahrain. That's worth about $4 billion worth of business.
Nokia (NOK) up $1.52. Fourth quarter earnings are due out next week, January 24th. They're expected to rise 47 percent and that would be about .44 euro. Of course demand for the company's products from China and India largely responsible for that.
Harman Intl Industries (HAR) plunging almost $26 a share. The audio equipment manufacturer cut its fiscal 2008 guidance which was $4.14 a share all the way down to $3 to $3.10 a year and that's due to pricing pressures on personal navigation devices. Standard & Poor's lowered its price target on Harmon from $109 a share all the way down to $55 and it's already fallen below that.
FTD Group (FTD), it was all flowers for this stock today, up $1.67. Second quarter earnings came in at $0.30, up from $0.21 last year and $0.06 better than the Street was expecting.
Wellcare Health Group (WCG) up $9.44. The company received a number of contract renewals from Medicare and Medicaid and several states and it'll add some 11,000 members to its rolls.
Arvinmeritor (ARM) up $1.35. Keybanc Capital upgraded it from "hold" to a "buy."
And then the Steak N Shake (SNS) down $1.68. The company sees a first quarter loss of $0.04 to $0.05 a share on a 9 1/2 percent drop in same store sales of co-owned restaurants.
Downey Financial (DSL) losing $3.63. The company said it reclassified some $99 million of its loans, its non-performing.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) a $6.09 gain. RBC Capital said data suggest the company had massive Mac computer holiday sales. It has a target on the stock of $215 a share.
Google (GOOG) did well today, up $15.57. The company announced some new features for Apple's iPhone and late today, SEC approved Google's participation in the wireless spectrum auction.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $11.15.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $2.65.
And Intel (INTC) gained $1.09, pretty good looking group of stocks right there.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.48.
$0.42 rise in Cisco Systems (CSCO).
Qualcomm (QCOM) gained $1.37.
Oracle (ORCL) a $0.96 advance.
And then First Solar (FSLR) up $3.76 a share.
Sears Holdings (SHLD) plunging $4.79. The company warned its fourth quarter earnings could be down as much as 51 percent from a year ago because of poor holiday sales both at Sears and its K-mart divisions.
ASV Inc (ASVI) had a rather good day, up $5.50 even. Terex Corporation will acquire it for $18 a share.
And another good gain here in Bright Horizons Family Solutions (BFAM). It's in child care and early education business and Bain Capital Partners will acquire this stock for $48.25 a share in cash.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
