Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, April 18, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened sharply higher as investors put those record oil prices on the back burner and cheered Citigroup's smaller than expected write-downs. Caterpillar's strong earnings also bolstered bullish conviction about corporate earnings still to come. By mid-day the Dow had surged 265 points and the NASDAQ was up 68. Giving the rally staying power right onto the final bell were plunging gold futures and a firm U.S. dollar. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 228.87 points at 12,849.36. This week, it fell only once and had a net advance of 523.94 points. The NASDAQ Composite gained 61.14 to 2402.97 today. It fell twice and rose three times this week, had a net gain of 112.73 points. Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 24.77, ending at 1390.33 today and it rose 57 1/2 points exactly for the week overall. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 3/32 to 98 8/32, putting the yield at 3.71 percent. Big board volume leader on 33.4 million shares was Citigroup (C) up $1.08. You heard, they had a big loss in the first quarter, but was kind of a relief rally that sent that stock higher. General Electric (GE) $0.67 gain.
Then came Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.07 advance.
Ford Motor Co (F) rising $0.19.
Bank of America (BAC) up $1.09. Its first quarter earnings are due out next Monday.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) rose $0.64.
Wells Fargo (WFC) $0.69 advance.
Visa (V) up $1.96. That stock went public at $44 not too long ago, way up. Washington Mutual (WM) $0.23 gain.
And then tenth in volume was Wachovia (WS) with an advance of $1.39 a share.
AT&T (T) down $0.06 on news the company plans to cut its workforce by 1 1/2 percent. That's 4600 jobs and they'll mostly be at the management level.
Honeywell Intl (HON), which is a Dow stock, up $3.59. First quarter earnings, $0.85, $0.03 above the Street estimate, well above $0.66 last year. Revenues up 11 percent and the company boosted its 2008 earnings guidance to - from $3.70 to about $3.80 a share or maybe a little better than that.
Cummins (CM) up $5.89. Standard & Poor's reports that by those strong earnings from Caterpillar and Honeywell, it should bode well for the results from Cummins as well.
Schlumberger Ltd (SLB), the oil service field company, up $6.55. First quarter earnings came in at $1.09, up from $0.96 last year, revenues up 15 percent. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" recommendation on the stock.
Amdocs Ltd (DOX) up $4.11. Second quarter earnings rose to $0.52 from $0.46 a year ago and the company sees third quarter arose $0.60, nicely higher. Citigroup repeated a "buy" on that stock.
Manpower (MAN) had a good day, up $6.89. First quarter earnings $0.94, $0.12 above the Street consensus and up from $0.69 last year, revenues up 19 percent.
Mf Global Ltd (MF) up $2.87, big percentage gain. The company sees a fourth quarter loss of $65 million, but also is forecasting record fourth quarter volume. That's what got the stock up apparently.
Amcol Intl (ACO), which is involved in mineral products, down $3.17. First quarter earnings fell to $0.28, from $0.35 a year ago. The company blamed higher energy and research and development costs.
The golds were weak today, Barrick Gold (ABX) off $1.40. New York June gold contracts closed down $27.70 an ounce at $915.20 an ounce, big drop.
Mohawk Industries (MHK), the carpet maker, up $4.18. First quarter earnings $0.95, down from $1.32 last year, but a nickel above the Street estimate.
Topping the active list on NASDAQ, Google (GOOG) almost a 90-point gain, traded as high as $547.70 today on those good earnings out after the close last night.
Apple (AAPL) up $6.55. First quarter results from Apple due out next Wednesday.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $4.59.
baidu.com (BIDU) up $31.25 following Google.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.78 gain there.
Intel (INTC) $0.44 advance.
Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) plunging $60 a share. First quarter earnings $1.12 or $0.14 better than the Street expected, but the company's revenue growth target is still shy of Wall Street estimates.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.62 gain.
amazon.com (AMZN) up $6.06.
Then Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.48 advance there.
PMC Sierra (PMCS) up $1.14. First quarter earnings, $0.11, up from $0.09 last year, $0.06 above the Street estimate.
And then we see GFI Group (GFIG), which trades derivatives, down $3.72. A dozen of its employees are leaving to go to a competitor.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
