Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, February 22, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks headed lower by mid-morning as investors reacted to an analyst "sell" recommendation on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. That downgrade sent the entire financial sector lower. By midday, the Dow was off 110 points; NASDAQ down 32. But stocks came alive late in the session on those rumors an Ambac rescue plan was imminent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rebounded with a closing gain of 96.72 points, putting it at 12,381.02. In this four-day trading week, it rose twice, fell twice, had a net gain of 32.81. The NASDAQ Composite closed up 3.57 at 2,303.35. It rose twice and fell twice as well for an overall loss of 18.45 points on the week. Standard & Poor's 500 tacked on 10.58 today to close at 1,353.11 and for the week, it was up 3.12 points. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 5/32 to 97 15/32, putting the yield at 3.81 percent.
Big board volume leader on nearly 25 million shares, Citigroup (C) down $0.07, traded as low as $24.26 this morning however, after an analyst at Oppenheimer said financial stocks could fall another 15 to 20 percent this year and said Citigroup could cut its dividend again soon. GE (GE) in there with a $0.14 loss.
And then came Bank of America (BAC) up $0.39.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) an $0.86 gain.
AT&T (T) $0.51 advance there.
Pfizer (PFE) gained $0.10. The "Science" magazine had a rather negative editorial about the company's business tactics.
EMC Corp (EMC) a $0.14 loss there.
Ford Motor (F) edged $0.02 higher.
ExxonMobil (XOM) up $0.25.
And then SprintNextel (S) with a $0.40 gain.
Ambac Financial (ABK) up $1.47. It rose a few more cents in after hours trading. As you heard, some major banks reportedly have come up with a rescue plan, but there's been no confirmation on that by the banks or by Ambac at all.
Fannie Mae (FNM) down only $0.27 at the close, but it traded as low as $27.21 this morning after Merrill Lynch downgraded it from "neutral" to "sell."
And then Freddie Mac (FRE), same downgrade by Merrill Lynch, "neutral" to "sell." The stock traded as low as $25.13, made a little recovery from there.
CHC Helicopter (FLI) a high flyer there. The company provides helicopter services to offshore oil platforms and a unit of First Reserve Corp. will acquire this company for $32.68 a share in Canadian funds.
And believe it not, another helicopter provider, Bristow Group (BRS) up $3.99, probably in sympathy with the buyout of CHC, but there was also an upgrade by Credit Suisse from "under perform" to "neutral" on Bristow Group.
Calgon Carbon CP (CCC) up $1.26, turnaround there, fourth quarter earnings of $0.08, versus a loss of $0.21 last year and sales were up 21 percent in this fourth quarter period.
Omnicare (OCR) up $2.24. The company has appointed as a new director Jeffrey Ubban or Ubban, a founder of ValueAct Capital, which already owns a 9.7 percent stake in Omnicare, so he'll be a new director there.
Lifetime Fitness (LTM) plunging $7.10. Fourth quarter earnings, $0.48, up from $0.38 a year ago, but the company's 2008 earnings guidance of $2.08 at best was below the Street estimate of $2.19 a share in earnings.
And finally, Aircastle (AYR) down $2.72. The commercial jet leasing company had fourth quarter earnings higher, $0.44, versus $0.38, but that was $0.06 below the Wall Street consensus.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, down $2.08.
$0.42 loss in Microsoft (MSFT).
Google (GOOG) up $4.94.
Intel (INTC) $0.48 drop there.
Research in Motion (RIMM) was up $1.26.
Cisco Systems (CSCO)
$0.41 advance.
Baidu.com (BIDU) rose $1.69.
Oracle (ORCL) up a penny.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $1.05 gain.
And then Amazon.com (AMZN) up $2.18.
Intuit (INTU) up $2 - down $2.74. Second quarter earnings lower, $0.40 versus $0.44 a year ago and the company sees third quarter earnings of $1.26. That's $0.11 below the Wall Street consensus.
And finally Orthofix Intl (OFIX) which makes orthopedic products, plunging $15.49. A fourth quarter loss of $0.62 reported today versus earnings of $0.44 a year ago.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
