Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, March 13, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Those retail sales numbers helped set a negative tone on Wall Street this morning. And so did those new lows in the dollar and new highs in oil futures. By 11:00 a.m., the Dow was down a hefty 212 points, with the NASDAQ off 37 points. The market stabilized during mid-day and then turned higher after Standard & Poor's rating unit predicted the major banks are more than halfway through an estimated $280 billion in write-downs. Financial stocks spearheaded a rally on the news and the market ended modestly higher. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 35 1/2 points exactly at 12,145.74. The NASDAQ Composite gained 19.74 to 2,263.61. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 6.71 ending at 1,315.48. In the bond market, the 10-year note lost 24/32 to 99 24/32, putting the yield at 3.53 percent.
New York exchange volume leader today, Ford Motor (F) on 37.3 million shares, stock down $0.31. Morgan Stanley widen its 2008 loss estimate from $0.15 a share to $0.40 a share and lower industry sales estimates by a half million vehicles to 15.4 million.
Citigroup (C) off $0.14.
GE (GE) up $0.29.
Bank of America (BAC) gained $0.11.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down a half a dollar.
Then we move along to Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.07 drop.
Bear Stearns (BSC) losing $4.58. It traded as low as $50.48 this morning. Reuters reported that hedge funds are nervous about entering long- term trade with the company and market scope Europe noted there are rumors resurfacing that Bear Stearns may have to file Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company denies that.
Washington Mutual (WM) $0.49 gain there.
Wachovia (WS) $0.81 drop.
And then came General Motors (GM) off $0.62. Morgan Stanley forecast a 2008 loss for GM of $1.30 a share. That's down from its previous estimate of a profit of $1.30 a share.
Time Warner (TWX) edged down $0.25 on news that its AOL unit will acquire Bebo. That's a global social media network and the price, $850 million.
Humana (HUM) rebounding $4.10 from a $6.50 a share loss yesterday on the company's first quarter cut in earnings guidance. Today UBS financial upgraded it from "sell" to a "neutral" rating.
Cornell Cos (CRN) which is a builder of corrective facilities, fourth quarter earnings were up 14 percent from $0.33 last year to $0.37 this year and that was $0.06 above the Street estimate. The company sees earnings in the first quarter as much as $0.31. That would be $0.07 above the consensus.
Virgin Mobil USA (VM) losing 41 percent of its value. This stock went public at $15 you will recall in October. Fourth quarter earnings or I should say loss today, $0.28 a share and it sees flat 2008 revenues. Bear Stearns downgraded it from "peer perform" to "under perform." Merrill Lynch issued a "sell."
Genesco (GCO), the footwear company, up $1.71. Fourth quarter earnings, sharply lower, $0.19 versus $1.36 last year, but the company will buy back up to $100 million of its own stock.
Apple (AAPL) topped NASDAQ's most active, up $1.91.
Followed by Google (GOOG) gaining $2.83.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $4.26.
Baidu.com (BIDU) was up, down $5.55.
Microsoft (MSFT) dropped $0.01, fifth in NASDAQ volume.
Yahoo! (YHOO) $0.95 drop there.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) off $0.19.
But Amgen (AMGN) moved up $2.19, even though an FDA panel decided to further restrict the company's anti-anemia Aranesp on safety concerns, but it didn't ban its use completely as some investors feared, hence the rise in the stock.
Intel (INTC) $0.16 gain.
First Solar (FSLR) up $1.41 a share.
Elsewhere, Take Two Interactive (TTWO) gained $0.73. Electronic Arts took its $26 a share takeover bid directly to Take Two shareholders. Management asked those shareholders to take no action for the moment.
And then Sigma Designs (SIGM) plunging $4.16. The company expects its chip customers like Motorola to cut back orders. RBC Capital and UBS financial cut their price targets on the stock.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
