Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Those weak reports on new home sales and durable goods orders raised recession fears and put Wall Street on the defensive this morning. After 90 minutes of trading, the Dow fell 145 points and the NASDAQ off 29 points. Several rally attempts were turned back by the sharp surge in oil futures, along with an analyst downgrade on earnings expectations for several major banks. Some late buying cut losses a bit, but the market still ended broadly lower. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 109.74 points at 12,422.86. The NASDAQ Composite lost 16.69 ending at 2324.36. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 11.86 points to close at 1341.13. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 12/32 to par and 9/32, lowering the yield at 3.47 percent.
Once again topping the big board active list, Citigroup (C) today on 32.1 million shares, the stock down $1.37. An Oppenheimer analyst widen the company's first quarter loss estimate from minus $0.21 to a loss of $1.21.
Ford Motor (F) down $0.12. You just heard the story there.
GE (GE) a $0.14 loss there.
And Motorola (MOT) up $0.26 as I just mentioned.
SprintNextel (S) was a dime gainer and the story is, the company and Clearwire have gained today on reports that both are in talks with Comcast and Time Warner to build a $3 billion nationwide wireless company.
Moving along in the active list, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $1.95. Oppenheimer cut its first quarter earnings estimates.
And the same with Bank of America (BAC) which lost $1.13.
Wells Fargo (WFC) fell $1.25 on the weak banking group.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.09 loss.
And Co Vale do Rio Doce (RIO) down or I should say up $1.67. The company's deal to buy Estrada apparently has fallen through. The stock reacted positively.
Clear Channel (CCU) losing $5.64. After the close yesterday as we reported, the "Wall Street Journal" said Bain Capital's $39.20 buyout bid to take the company private may be in jeopardy because of funding problems. Now late today, the company and a private equity (INAUDIBLE) buyers Bain Capital and Thomas Lee are suing the syndicate of banks involved to force funding of Clear Channel's $19 billion buyout or pay $26 billion in damages and the story goes on and on.
AMR (AMR), parent of American Airlines, down $1.02. The company voluntarily canceled about 300 flights to check aircraft wiring and of course, the airline stocks today as a group were weak because of the spike up in oil prices.
Let's have a look at some of the other major airlines. Continental (CAL), Delta (DAL) and (UAL) (UAUA) all major losses.
US Airways (LCC) down just $0.59, but pretty big percentage.
Alpha Natural Resources (ANR) up $3.02. Goldman Sachs upgraded the cold (ph) sector from "cautious" to "neutral" and issued a "buy" recommendation on Alpha, as it did on Consolidated Energy, which rose $2.33.
On the downside, Ameron Intl (AMN), which is involved with chemical fiberglass and steel products, first quarter earnings, $1.07, well above $0.94 last year, but $0.23 below the Wall Street consensus. Down went the stock.
Jabil Circuit (JBL) losing $2.09. Second quarter loss out today of $0.12 a share, versus earnings of $0.07 last year. The company cited restructuring charges. JPMorgan downgraded the stock from "over weight" to "under weight."
And then Cooper Tire & Rubber (CTB) off $1.76. Keybanc downgraded it from an "aggressive buy" to just a "hold" rating.
And the Pep Boys (PBY) off $1.28. Fourth quarter loss of $0.36 versus earnings of $0.15 last year.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) up $4.08.
Research in Motion (RIMM) gaining $2.20.
Google (GOOG) did well, up $7.41.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.97 drop.
Baidu.com (BIDU) was up $5.89.
Oracle (ORCL) down $0.14. Just after the close, third quarter earnings for Oracle, $0.30, up from $0.20 last year, but just in line with estimates and revenues were below estimates. In after hours trading, I saw the stock down just about $19 a share.
Microsoft (MSFT) fell $0.58.
Intel (INTC) $0.41 drop there.
First Solar (FSLR) $0.46 gain.
And Rambus (RMBS) up $7.25, tenth in NASDAQ volume. The memory chip developer won a closely watched court battle with other memory chip makers regarding intellectual property rights and it could result in royalties of over $11 billion.
