Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's bears continued to maul the bulls early today, as overseas markets remained in turmoil gripped by fears of a global recession. The Dow tumbled over 255 points at the outset of trading, while the NASDAQ fell 55 points. Then a Bear Stearns upgrade of the big banks helped stocks stage a midday rally, which failed due to lack of volume. But the market came roaring back on big volume on word help could be on the way for the battered bond insurers. The Dow Industrial Average closed up an impressive 298.98 points at 12,270.17. The NASDAQ ended up 24.14 at 2316.41. Standard & Poor's 500 Index jumped 28.10 ending at 1338.60. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gave up most of yesterday's gain, falling 1 20/32 to 105 9/32, putting the yield at 3.61 percent.
Familiar big board volume leader on 60 million shares today, Citigroup (C) moving up $1.90. The bank stocks benefited from Bear Stearns which upgraded large cap banks from "market under weight" to "over weight."
Motorola (MOT) needed some help today though, down $2.27. Fourth quarter earnings, $0.04, down from $0.25 last year. Sales down 18 percent. The company sees a first quarter loss of $0.05 to $0.07 a share versus a Street estimate for $0.09 in earnings. Meanwhile, Carl Icahn, the activist shareholder, is calling for the breakup of Motorola.
Bank of America (BAC) another strong bank, up $3.28.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.65 gain. Fourth quarter earnings excluding items, $0.52 up from $0.43 and a nickel above consensus.
Then came General Electric (GE), fifth in volume with a $0.55 gain.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) strong bank sector, up $4.81.
Same with Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) with a gain of $2.57.
EMC Corp (EMC) was down $0.33.
Wachovia (WB), another strong bank, up $3.58.
And then came Time Warner (TWX), topping out the active list with a $0.06 gain.
Elsewhere, United Technologies (UTX), a Dow stock, up $3.77. Fourth quarter earnings up 23 percent to $1.08 versus $0.87 last year and $0.02 above the Street estimate.
Freeport McMoran C&G (FCX) down $4.37. It traded as low as $69.10. Fourth quarter operating earnings, $1.07, down from $1.99 and that's despite a sharp rise in revenues. It cuts its 2008 copper sales and gold sales forecast on top of that.
Then CNH Global NV (CNH) down $7.38, 39, let's make it. The farm equipment manufacturer had higher fourth quarter earnings of $0.50 versus $0.39, but that was $0.10 below the Street consensus. We apologize once again for not having our usual charts because of a computer glitch, but we'll get the news to you the old fashioned way.
MGIC Investment (MIG) moving up $0.85. At one stage today, that stock was at $10.40. The company sees a fourth quarter loss of over $1 billion on insurance pay offs amid rising loan delinquencies.
SLM Corporation (SLM), the Sallie Mae, down $0.28, but that stock at one stage today was as low as $16.20 after reporting a fourth quarter loss of nearly $4 versus $0.02 in earnings and on top of that, the SEC is probing insider trading action by the company's new CEO and one of the directors just after the company's takeover by JC Flowers fell through.
Buckeye Technology (BKI) up $3.10, nice move there. The company sees second quarter earnings of about $0.35, up from $0.10 a year ago and a nickel above the Wall Street estimate.
Norfolk Southern (NSC), the big rail, up $4.38. Fourth quarter earnings of $1.02, up from $0.95 last year, $0.12 above the Street consensus.
And then Marine Products (MPX) up $1.62. The maker of fiberglass boats had sharply higher fourth quarter earnings of $0.11 versus $0.04 last year, $0.02 above the Street estimate and the company's going to buy back up to 3 million of its own shares.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list, getting hit today, down $16.57. The company's outlook not too impressive, according to many analysts.
Then came Google (GOOG) with a $35.73 loss.
Followed by Microsoft (MSFT) earnings due out tomorrow, $0.06 loss there.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $2.08.
Baidu.com (BIDU) off $3.07.
Intel (INTC) managed to buck the trend in the high tech sector, up $1.35.
And then Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.61 gain there.
First Solar (FSLR) up $18.05.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $4.51.
And then came Qualcomm (QCOM), $0.29 loss. After the close, Qualcomm's first quarter earnings $0.46 up from $0.38 a year ago on a 21 percent rise in revenues. The stock jumped $3 from this level in after hours trading.
Ebay (EBAY) up $1.81. After the close, the company came out with earnings fourth quarter, excluding items, $0.45, $0.04 above the Street estimate, but the company had a cautious outlook and CEO Meg Whitman is stepping down in late March.
Human Genome (HGSI) down $4.40. The company's independent board raised safety concerns about Human Genome's hepatitis C treatment, which is in late stage trials.
