Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks on Wall Street opened modestly lower on selling prompted by that larger than expected rise in producer prices and the drop in consumer confidence. Adding to the early selling, oil's rise back above the $100 a barrel level. An hour into trading the Dow was off 41 points and the NASDAQ fell 14. IBM spearheaded a sharp comeback rally after announcing a $15 billion stock buyback. And stocks continued to rally when Moody's reaffirmed MBIA Corporation's triple-A credit rating. So the market went on to close near its best levels of the day. Dow Industrial Average ended up 114.70 at 12,684.92. The NASDAQ Composite gained 17.51 to 2344.99. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 9.49, ending at 1381.29. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note climbed 13/32 to 97 2/32, putting the yield at 3.86 percent. Big board volume leader as it so often is, Citigroup (C) today on 35.8 million shares, edging up $0.21.
Followed by General Electric (GE), $0.27 drop.
Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) did well, up $1.07. Wal-Mart is reducing shelf space for Cott beverages and also cutting merchandising support for Cott products. Cott says this is going to have a significant impact on its business plan.
Let's have a look at what Cott Corp (COT) stock did today, losing 37 percent of its value on that news, down $1.51 and a very bearish looking chart indeed.
Back to the active list now, we see Pfizer (PFE) in there with a nickel gain.
Followed by EMC Corp (EMC) dropping $0.42 or gaining $0.42 a share.
Then Bank of America (BAC) down $0.22.
Followed by Wells Fargo (WFC) $0.29 drop there.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $0.31.
Ford Motor Co (F) bucked that trend, up $0.06.
But Motorola (MOT) losing $0.15 a share.
IBM (IBM), the star of the day, Big Blue announcing that $15 billion stock buyback. It also boosted the low end of its 2008 earnings guidance to $8.25 a share, nice move on the stock, certainly a major factor in the Dow's gain today.
Home Depot (HD) up just a penny a share. Fourth quarter earnings out, $0.40, down from $0.46 last year and the company sees a 5 percent decline in earnings this year.
Lennar (LEN), the home builder, up $1.63. There's speculation an investment group from the United Arab Emirates has made a takeover bid and that gave the whole home builder sector a bit of a boost today.
Target (TGT) up $1.64. Fourth quarter earnings lower, $1.23 versus last year's $1.29 but that was a penny above Wall Street expectations. Stock up on the news.
Macy's (M) did well, up $1.76. Fourth quarter earnings of $1.73, up from $1.40 last year, even though sales dropped 6.2 percent in that period.
Radioshack (RSH) up $3.39. Fourth quarter earnings rose to $0.77 from $0.62 a year ago. The company said improved margins offset a 6.7 percent drop in same store sales.
Autozone (AZO) doing well, up $7.56. Second quarter earnings came in at $1.67, $0.05 above the Street consensus and well up from $1.45 last year. Sales up 3 percent and the company's optimistic on its outlook.
Usec (USU) down $2.43, big percentage drop after the company said higher cost of labor, commodities and construction materials are boosting the cost of its American centrifuge plant by up to 50 percent over budget.
Movado Group (MOV), the watch maker, down $2.02. Company cut its 2008 earnings guidance from a high of $1.78 to $1.70 at best.
And then we see TNS (TNS) which is in the payment processing business, up $1.52. Fourth quarter earnings, $0.33, $0.10 better than last year and revenues were up a very wholesome 20 percent.
NASDAQ's most active, Google (GOOG) plunging $22.25, traded as low as $446.85. UBS financial cut its price target from $650 to $590 a share on reports the number of web surfers clicking on ads are continuing to decline.
Apple (AAPL) $0.59 drop there.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $0.54.
Baidu.com (BIDU) down $3.21.
Research in Motion (RIMM) $0.96 drop there, fifth in volume.
Intel (INTC) moved up $0.75.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.27 rise.
But Foster Wheeler (FWLT) down $11.90. Fourth quarter earnings excluding one-time items, $0.56, down from $0.60 a year ago and $0.20 below the Wall Street consensus.
First Solar (FSLR) up $1.79.
And then Oracle (ORCL) with a $0.24 gain rounded out the actives.
Tessera Technologies (TSRA) plunging $12.52. The company got an unfavorable ruling regarding its chip technology in a lawsuit involving Motorola and some other chip makers.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
