Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, February 15, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Carryover selling from yesterday's downturn sent stocks on Wall Street lower early today and the losses got bigger on that sharp drop in consumer sentiment, which raised more fears of recession. Another negative was the report of disappointing factory activity in the New York region. At mid-session, the Dow posted an 85-point loss. NASDAQ was off 25 points. Stocks showed some slow improvement through the afternoon on cautious bargain buying, but the market still ended basically lower. The Dow Industrial Average closed down 28.77 at 12,348.21. This week, the Dow rose in three out of the five sessions for an overall gain of 166.08 points. Today the NASDAQ Index fell 10.74 to 2321.80. That index rose only twice this week, still had a gain 16.95 points. Standard & Poor's 500 managed to gain 1.13 today to 1349.99. Yesterday was its only down day of the weak and the index logged a weak overall advance of 18.70 points. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 14/32 to 97 26/32, pushing the yield down to 3.77 percent.
Once again, big board volume leader today on 29.4 million shares, Citigroup (C) down $0.26. The company has halted withdrawals from its CSO hedge fund after investors holding about 30 percent of it asked for their money back, complaining that the fund manager put too much money into one investment and that investment turned sour.
Bank of America (BAC) a $0.46.
$0.02 loss in General Electric (GE).
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.12.
Chevron (CVX) up $0.76. It's soon going to be a member of the Dow 30 so no doubt we saw some index fund buying today.
Altria Group (MO) is coming out of the Dow 30, index selling no doubt, down $0.16.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) $0.64 gain.
Time Warner (TWX) a $0.26 advance.
Honeywell Intl (HON) coming out of the Dow 30, down $1.47 on index selling.
And then Wells Fargo & Co (WFC), tenth in volume, was up a dime a share.
Bear Stearns (BSC) up $4.32, but the company declined to comment on takeover speculation making the rounds today.
Then Clear Channel (CCU) up $2.22. Fourth quarter operating earnings $0.45, up from $0.37 last year, $0.02 better than the Street was expecting.
But Best Buy Co (BBY) down $1.15. The company lowered its 2008 earnings estimate from a high of $3.20 a share down to $3.10 at best and it cut its 2008 same store sales growth estimate from plus 4 percent down to 2 1/2 to 3 percent.
Kraft Foods (KFT) and the foods were strong today. A lot of defensive stocks like this did well. Kraft Foods up $2.02. Warren Buffett it has been revealed owns an 8.6 percent stake in Kraft.
Campbell Soup Co (CPS) up $1.93. Second quarter adjusted earnings $0.69, up from $0.68 a year ago. Sales up 7 percent. Company sees fiscal 2008 earnings up 5 to 7 percent.
And HJ Heinz Co (HNZ) up $2.23. The company sees third quarter organic sales growth of 8 to 9 percent and third quarter earnings of $0.67 to $0.68 a share, strong group indeed.
Barnes Group (B) down $3.90. The company makes aerospace components, fourth quarter earnings, $0.38, up 12 percent from last year and that's excluding items and that was just in line with estimates. The company also had disappointing 2008 earnings guidance.
Diana Shipping (DSX) down $1.17. Fourth quarter earnings, $0.49, up from $0.37 last year, but the Street was looking for $0.51, not $0.49.
And Netsuite (N) down $2.42. You'll recall that company went public in December at $26 a share. Today it reported a fourth quarter loss of a penny a share and sees a 2008 loss of $0.01 to $0.04 a share. Analysts were looking for a profit on the year.
Arch Coal (ACI) down $2.17. Story here, Goldman Sachs downgraded the U.S. coal sector from "neutral" to "cautious" and it had quite a negative impact. Arch Coal down and Consol Energy (CNX) down $4.80.
Massey Energy (MSE) another coal miner, down $1.91 a share.
Volume leader on NASDAQ, Apple (AAPL) down $2.83.
Google (GOOG) off $2.61.
Microsoft (MSFT) an $0.08 drop.
Baidu.com (BIDU) fell $5.40.
First Solar (FSLR) up $4 - down $4.72, fifth in volume.
Intel (INTC) dropped $0.35.
So did Research in Motion (RIMM).
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.23 loss there.
Yahoo! (YHOO) $0.32 drop.
And Priceline.com (PCLN) up $21.63. Fourth quarter earnings more than doubled, $0.68 versus $0.33 last year. Excluding items, that earnings would have been $0.96, $0.12 above the Street estimate.
And then elsewhere, Arris Group (ARRS) which provides equipment and technology to cable companies, had a first quarter earnings estimate of only $0.08 to $0.12, well down from the $0.19 the Street was expecting. The company cited slowing sales to Comcast Corporation due to tougher competition.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
