Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Thursday, March 27, 2008
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Well it was a mixed opening on Wall Street. The blue chips rose as a better than expected 2.3 percent rise in fourth quarter personal spending overshadowed that tepid fourth quarter GDP report. The Dow gained 31 points at the outset of trading, but the NASDAQ fell 17 on Oracle's shortfall in revenues, which we reported to you last night. The weakness in tech continued on worries about Google's revenues and the broader market turned lower on Lehman Brothers cut in earnings estimates for Citigroup, Bank of America and UBS. The Dow Industrial Average slumped to a closing loss of 120.40 points at 12,302.46. The NASDAQ Composite lost 43.53 to 2,280.83, while the Standard & Poor's 500 In Index fell 15.37 ending at 1,325.76. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note lost 16/32 to 99 25/32, putting the yield at 3.53 percent.
At its familiar place at the head of the active list, Citigroup (C) trading 29.3 million shares, down $0.26. Lehman Brothers cut its earnings estimates on Citi and also lowered its price target from $37 to $34 a share.
Lehman lowered Bank of America (BAC) earnings estimates, down $1.20 on the stock.
Lehman Brothers (LEH) itself off $3.78. A company spokeswoman for Lehman said that rumors about the company in the marketplace are totally unfounded and are being spread by short sellers in Lehman stock. GE (GE) $0.30 loss there.
Ford Motor (F) edged down $0.05.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.13 loss.
Merrill Lynch (MER) off $2.52. Oppenheimer cut first quarter estimates to a loss of $3 for Merrill. Sanford Bernstein cut its estimate of first quarter profit of $1.30 down to a loss of $1.60 a share for Merrill.
SprintNextel (S) a $0.03 drop.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) in the weak banking group, down $1.25.
And then Clear Channel (CCU) up $2.73. A Texas judge has granted a restraining order against the banks that are balking at funding the $39.20 a share takeover bid by Bain Capital and its partners.
Altria (MO) a $0.22 gain. Tomorrow the company will spin off its Philip Morris international unit to Altria shareholders.
Then the big food company, Con Agra (CAG) doing well today, up $1.56. Third quarter operating earnings jumped to $0.63 from $0.37 a year ago and the company will sell its commodity trading and merchandizing businesses for about $2.1 billion.
Sempra Energy (SRE), that's the big San Diego energy holding company is projecting earnings growth of 11 percent annually starting next year and running through 2012.
Movado Group (MOV), the watch maker, up $2.77, nicely higher fourth quarter earnings, $0.72, up from $0.52 last year. That's a 39 percent increase.
The big footwear retailer DSW (DSW) plunging $4.21. Fourth quarter earnings of only $0.02 down from $0.37 last year, $0.04 below the Street estimate. Same store sales dropped 1.7 percent. The company said it won't give fiscal 2009 guidance due to the economic uncertainties.
Robbins & Myers (RBN) plunging $9.17. Second quarter earnings were nicely higher though, $0.47, up from $0.23 last year, but the company sees third quarter of only $0.42 to $0.47. The Street estimate is at the high end of that $0.47. Don't forget this stock is vulnerable to profit taking. They had a 52-week low of only $18 a share.
CKE Restaurants (CKR) down $1.47. Fourth quarter operating results just break even versus earnings of $0.17 a year ago. Sales dropped 3.2 percent.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active down $4.81.
Research in Motion (RIMM) losing an even $6.
Google (GOOG) down $14.11. The company's February paid clicks were down 3 percent from January and Lehman Brothers cut its price target by 10 percent to $580 a share, also cut Google's first quarter earnings estimate.
Oracle (ORCL) down $1.51. Third quarter revenues out yesterday as we reported were below expectations.
Intel (INTC) a $0.77 drop there.
First Solar (FSLR), the only gainer in the 10 actives on NASDAQ, up $7.30.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) dropped $0.60.
baidu.com (BIDU) off $3.95.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.51 drop there.
And Amazon (AMZN) a $3 loss.
Huron Consulting (HURN) plunging $17.86. The company says preliminary first quarter results will show earnings of $0.50 to $0.57, but that's well below the Street consensus of only - of way up there at $0.67. Down went the stock.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
