Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened higher on some bargain buying after four straight downside sessions. A smaller than expected decline in the ISM service activity index also helped the Dow to a 94 point gain early on as the NASDAQ Composite rose 20 points. The market lost its luster after oil surged to that record high, while the Fed's beige book report was weak. The Dow fell to a 50 point mid-afternoon deficit partly also in disappointment over Ambac's huge stock sale plan. A late rally however, lifted the market to a positive close. The Dow Industrial Average ended up 41.19 at 12,254.99. The NASDAQ gained 12.53 to 2272.81. Standard & Poor's 500 rose 6.95 to end at 1333.70. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 14/32 to 98 15/32, putting the yield at 3.69 percent. Big board volume leader on 33.8 million shares, Citigroup (C) edging up $0.05 a share. The Punk Ziegel (ph) brokerage sees a first quarter loss for Citigroup at $1.42 a share and overall for the year, earnings of only $0.50 a share, although Punk Ziegel Citicorp a "buy" and has a $34 a share price target.
SprintNextel (S) up $0.12.
Bank of America (BAC) losing $0.59.
General Electric (GE) up $0.15.
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.20. Some analysts say they are not impressed by the company's pipeline of new drugs.
Moving along in the active list, EMC Corp (EMC) up $0.11.
Followed by JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down a half dollar.
Wachovia (WS) off $0.78.
There you see Ford Motor Co (F) losing a penny.0
And Wells Fargo (WFC) a $0.15 gain.
Dupont Co (DD) up $0.87. Credit Suisse brokerage started coverage with an "out perform" rating and a $57 a share target, says the company's genetically modified are in very strong demand.
And that is also true of Monsanto Co (MON) which was up $3.53 today. Credit Suisse there with a "neutral" rating and a $131 price target on Monsanto.
Delta Air Lines (DAL) up $1.19 and the pilots of Delta and Northwest were meeting today and there's optimism a merger accord just might be reached. Northwest stock was up $1.19 at $14.69 a share.
Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold (FCX) up $5.15. New York April gold hit a record high of $988.50 an ounce. That was up $22.20 on the day. Of course that's a record high.
Big Lots Inc. (BIG), the warehouse, down, I should say up $3.85. Fourth quarter earnings excluding items, $0.93, $0.09 above the Street. The company sees 2008 earnings at $1.70 to $1.80, well above the $1.53 estimate on Wall Street.
BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) up $2.24. Big earnings there, fourth quarter, $0.80 up from $0.18 last year and 5.4 percent rise in same store sales in the quarter.
Maidenform Brands (MFB) did well, up $1.98. Fourth quarter earnings, $0.27, more than double the $0.13 last year. Standard & Poor's however did downgrade it from "strong buy" to "hold" on a valuation basis.
Calgon Carbon Corp (CCC) up $1.60. The company received a $55 million, five-year contract for its activated carbon from a major power company.
Smithfield Foods (SFD) up $1.07. The company's selling its beef and cattle feeding operations to a Brazilian firm called JBS and the price $565 million.
Universal American (UAM), this is a health and life insurance holding company, down $3.87. The company cut its 2008 earnings guidance from a high of $1.85 to $1.74 at best. Street estimate is up there at $1.81.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) $0.13 loss.
Followed by Google (GOOG) up $3.10.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged up $0.53.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $2.93.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.02 loss despite CEO John Chambers positive outlook.
Baidu.com (BIDU) down $3.93.
Intel (INTC) $0.20 gain.
Oracle (ORCL) $0.36 advance
First Solar (FSLR) did well, up $10.59.
Costco Wholesale (COST) down $1.56 despite second quarter earnings rising to $0.74, $0.20 more than last year, but that just in line with Street estimates and an analyst at Edward Jones is concerned about the company's ability to improve profit margins.
Canadian Solar (CSIQ) up $3.23, a turnaround, fourth quarter earnings of $0.20 versus a loss of $0.21 per share last year. Those earnings $0.04 above the Street estimate.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
