Paul Kangas Stocks in the News
Monday, January 28, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened on the defensive taking their cue from some steep losses in overseas markets. McDonald's stock, after reporting flat December sales, led the Dow to a 60-point loss early on. The market took the bad news on new home sales in stride though and that resilience encouraged enough bullish confidence to prompt a mid-session recovery resulting in a Dow gain of 56 points at noontime. That buying and the prospect of more rate cuts this week helped stocks close at the day's best levels. The Dow Jones Industrial Average came in with a gain of 176.72 points at 12383.89. The NASDAQ Composite climbed 23.71 ending at 2349.91, while the Standard & Poor's Index 500 rose 23.35 points to 1353.96. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 7/32 to 105 15/32, putting the yield at 3.58 percent.
Familiar name at the top of the top active list, today on 29 million shares, Citigroup (C) moving up $1.01 in a very firm financial sector. That was followed by Cameron Intl (CAM), this is an oil services firm and the stock edged up $0.54, but the SEC is making an informal probe of bribery allegations at the firm.
Bank of America (BAC) doing well.
And then General Electric (GE) in there with a $0.72 gain.
Motorola (MOT) up $0.51.
Moving along, Ford Motor Co (F) $0.09 gain there.
McDonald's (MCD) however, a major loser in the Dow, down $3.03. The company reported fourth quarter earnings excluding items, $0.73, way up from $0.40 last year, $0.02 above the Street estimate and while fourth quarter overall sales were up 6.7 percent, December sales were flat in the U.S. and that disappointed investors and led to that loss.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) up $1.93.
Pfizer (PFE) $0.38 gain.
And then AT&T (T) up $1.14, tenth in big board volume. Once again we apologize for not having our normal charts, but we still have a little computer problem there, so we'll do it the old fashioned way.
Caterpillar (CAT) did well, up $2.28. Bear Stearns upgraded it from "peer perform" to "out perform."
Verizon Communications (VZ) edged up $0.35. Fourth quarter earnings excluding items, $0.62, up from $0.52 last year. That was in line with estimates.
Merck & Co (MRK) still another Dow stock, up $1.46. UBS financial upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy" recommendation.
Corning (GLW) up $0.73. The company in with fourth quarter results, $0.45 in earnings, up from $0.41 last year on a better than expected 16 percent rise in revenues.
Landry's Restaurants (LNY) good gainer today, up $3.78. The company's chairman is proposing to acquire all the outstanding shares of Landry's for $23.50 each in cash.
Kellwood Co (KWD) up $3.20. The soft goods marketer wants to remove all impediments to Sun Capital Security's $21 a share cash tender offer for Kellwood stock.
Rohm & Haas Co (ROM) up $3.04. The coatings manufacturer had nicely higher fourth quarter earnings, $0.91 up from $0.82 last year. Revenues up a respectable 16 percent.
Wendy's Intl (WFN) down $1.34. That's in sympathy with McDonald's flat December sales and also Wendy's says it's running late its strategic revision or review of the company.
Wellcare Health (WCS) up $4.96. The chairman and CEO Paul Behrens is resigning and the company's installing a new top management team and it denies that it's looking for a buyer incidentally.
Molina Healthcare (MOH) down $1.07. Deutsche Bank downgraded it from "hold" to "sell."
Alberto Culver (ACV) doing well, up $2.18. First quarter operating earnings, $0.29 versus just break even last year. Alberto Culver boosting the quarterly dividend from 5 1/2 to 6 1/2 percent.
And then American Express (AXP) closed up $1.96. Just after the close, fourth quarter earnings out, $0.71, down from $0.75 last year, in line with expectations, but revenues were lower than expected and American Express stock dropped $1.20 from this price in after hours trading.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, no change there.
Google (GOOG) was down $10.42.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.22 loss.
Baidu.com (BIDU) fell $8.50, $0.15 is just say.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $1.02, fifth in NASDAQ volume.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a dime loss.
Intel (INTC) $0.29 gain.
First Solar (FSLR) did well, up $5.72.
Dell (DELL) a $0.29 gain.
And Amgen (AMGN) down $0.28 a share.
YRC Worldwide (YRCW) down $2.75. The big transportation services company had a huge fourth quarter loss of nearly $13 a share, but most of the loss due to retirement (ph) charges related to some acquisitions it made back in 2003.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
