Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, March 28, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips rebounded this morning as bargain hunters came out following three sessions to the downside. By noon, the Dow posted a 48-point gain and the tech-laden NASDAQ joined in with a 13-point rise. Those reports on weak consumer spending and consumer sentiment blunted the upturn. Adding to the weakness, selling linked to end-of-quarter portfolio shuffling which resulted in a lower close for the broad market.
The Dow ended the day with a loss of 86.06 at 12,216.40. For the week, the blue chips rose only once and had an overall loss of 144.92 points. The NASDAQ Composite closed down 19.65 at 2,261.18 today. This week, it rose twice and declined three times at an overall gain of 3.07 points. Standard & Poor's 500 today ended with a loss of 10.54 at 1,315.22, and it was down 14.29 points for the week overall.
In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 20/32 to par and 14/32, putting the yield at 3.45 percent.
Once again, topping the active list was Citigroup (C), today on 23.5 million shares, the stock down $0.96. An Oppenheimer analyst is now expecting another dividend cut in April
Commerce Bancshares (CBH) down $1.08. That stock is being replaced in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index by a company called HCP Corporation (HCP).
G.E. (GE) in there with a $0.22 loss.
The same thing with Circuit City (CC). Circuit City is going to be replaced in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index by the new Philip Morris International (PM-WI).
Ford Motor (F) with a $0.24 loss, very active.
Sprint Nextel (S) lost $0.08.
A $0.06 drop in Pfizer (PFE).
Bank of America (BAC), you just heard the story there, down $0.57.
Time Warner (TWX) off $0.40.
And Merrill Lynch (MER) down $1.97, and that was in the story you just heard too.
Moving along, let's see if we can find some other movers. There is a Dow stock, McDonald's (MCD) edging just $0.03 higher, although Morgan Stanley began coverage with an overweight rating on MCD.
United States Steel (X) up $4.17. Citigroup issued a buy and a target of $145 a share. Merrill Lynch boosted U.S. Steel from neutral to buy, citing the strong outlook for steel prices.
J.C. Penney (JCP), weak retailing group, down $3.04. J.C. Penney cut its first-quarter guidance, which had been $0.75 to $0.80 a share, all the way down to $0.50 a share on much lower-than-expected sales, according to the company.
Best Buy (BBY) down $1.71. RBC Capital brokerage cut its price target from $56 to $54 a share.
And yet another retailer on the downside, Tiffany (TIF) losing $2. Merrill Lynch downgraded it from neutral to a sell.
Then we see Maguire Properties (MPG) down $2.74. The company said in the absence of any suitors, it is no longer pursuing its sale, especially under the current market conditions.
KB Home (KBH) down $1.25. The company in with a first-quarter loss of $3.47 a share. The Street was expecting a loss of only $1.35. Revenues plummeted 43 percent in the first quarter. And the company is not optimistic on the near-term outlook.
The big Chinese oil and gas producer, CNOOC (CEO), up $6.46, 2007 net income rose 1.1 percent over 2006, and revenues were up 2 percent. Today's Standard & Poor's upgraded the stock from hold to a buy rating.
On the downside, LaSalle Hotel Properties (LHO) losing $2.37. Wachovia downgraded it from outperform to market perform on a valuation basis.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ most actives with a gain of $2.76.
Followed by Research In Motion (RIMM), $3.19 gain there.
Google (GOOG) down and even $6.
Baidu.com (BIDU) moving the other way with a gain of $9.66.
Microsoft (MSFT) dropped $0.14 a share, fifth in volume.
Intel (INTC) a $0.30 drop there.
Cisco (CSCO) lost a dime.
Apollo Group (APOL) plunging $15.13, traded as low as $39.41. The online educational company, which is the parent of the University of Phoenix, had a second-quarter loss out of $0.19 today, versus earnings of $0.35 last year. One of its big rivals, DeVry (DV) stock fell $6.89 to $39.97 on the news from Apollo.
Then Yahoo! (YHOO) a $0.90 gain there.
And First Solar (FSLR) moved up $1.19.
Tessera Technologies (TSRA) had a great day on the upside, rising $5.44. The International Trade Commission overturned a judge's decision to stay a patent case against Motorola (MOT), Freescale Semiconductor, and Qualcomm (QCOM) and others. The case can now proceed.
And those are the "Stocks in the News" tonight.
