Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, April 21, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened lower on profit taking from last week's big gains with additional selling prompted by that sharp drop in Bank of America's results and of course another surge in oil futures. An hour into trading, the Dow posted an 86 point loss. The NASDAQ was off 12 points. Stock prices stabilized over the next few hours as buyers were encouraged by the low volume and modest losses in the early downturn. A late day comeback in the tech sector helped the market close on a mixed note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down only 24.34 at 12,825.02, while the NASDAQ actually managed to gain 5.07 ending at 2408.04. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 2.16 points to 1388.17. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 6/32 to 98 4/32 putting the yield at 3.73 percent.
It certainly wasn't the volume leader, National City (NCC) down $2.30, trading as low as $5.90 today, traded almost 38 million shares after reporting a first quarter loss of $0.27 a share. The company is cutting its quarterly dividend from $0.21 to a mere penny and it plans to raise $7 billion through the sale of stock, namely 126 million shares priced at $5 each. Citigroup (C) down $0.08. An Oppenheimer analyst says the company's lack of earnings power could cause it to cut or eliminate its dividend.
Then came Pfizer (PFE) $0.27 drop.
Ford Motor Co (F) moved up $0.28.
General Electric (GE) $0.23 drop.
Moving along in the active list, Bank of America (BAC) down $0.95. As you heard, first quarter earnings tumbled 77 percent to only $0.23 a share. Standard & Poor's today downgraded the stock from "buy" to just a "hold."
EMC Corp (EMC) up $0.37.
Wells Fargo (WFC) down $1.13. Oppenheimer cut it from "perform" to "under perform" as a market performer.
And then JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $0.53.
AT&T (T), tenth in volume, moved up $0.08.
Texas Instruments (TXN) closed with a gain of $0.99. After the close, the company reported first quarter earnings of $0.43 a share. That was in line with the Street estimate. The company sees second quarter anywhere from $0.42 to $0.48. $0.48 is the Wall Street estimate. In after hours trading, TXN stock would drop to about $29.87.
Merck & Co (MRK) lost $0.13. First quarter earnings excluding one-time items, $0.89 and that was $0.03 above the Street estimate, but the company's revenues were below expectations and that's what hurt the stock a bit.
Another giant drug company, Eli Lilly (LLY) down $2.48. First quarter earnings excluding one-time items, $0.92 a share. That was $0.04 below the Street consensus.
Then Hasbro (HAS) up $3.10. The company in with first quarter earnings of $0.25 a share, $0.11 above the Street estimate and up from $0.19 last year. Revenues were up 13 percent.
Another toy maker, Mattel (MAT) didn't fare so well, off $1.78. The company reported a first quarter loss of $0.13 a share, versus earnings of $0.03 last year. Sales dropped 2.2 percent. Standard & Poor's downgraded the stock from "buy" to just a "hold" rating.
Arch Coal (ACI) did very well, up $3.81. First quarter earnings jumped to $0.56 from only $0.20 last year. Revenues soared 22 percent and keep in mind, coal prices have nearly doubled in the last year.
Circor Intl (CIR), which is involved with thermal fluid controls, boosted its first quarter earnings guidance from about $0.56 a share to as much as $0.77 a share. The company cited better profit margins.
Quest Diagnostics (DGX) up $3.50 a share, $0.72 in first quarter earnings out today, well up from $0.55 last year. Revenues rose 17 percent.
Eaton (ETN), the big manufacturing firm, down $2.69. It plans a 17 1/2 million share common stock offering and use the proceeds to pay down debt.
And then finally we see China Petro & Chemical (SNP) up $9.36. The Chinese government will subsidize the company to offset its losses stemming from refining imported oil.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ active list, up $7.12. Earnings due out tomorrow.
Google (GOOG) down $1.62.
Baidu.com (BIDU) up $16.51.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up nearly $3.
Microsoft (MSFT) gained $0.42.
Moving along in the active list on NASDAQ, Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.38.
$0.09 loss in Intel (INTC).
First Solar (FSLR) was up $6.06.
Amazon.com (AMZN) edged $0.08 higher.
And Qualcomm (QCOM) a $0.07 winner.
Ebay (EBAY) down $1.08 on a report that its auction listings fell 9 percent in Britain last week compared to the week before.
And then Aladdin Knowledge (ALDN) tumbling $5.95. This is a software security firm. First quarter earnings excluding items, $0.29, $0.03 below the Street estimate and the company cut its 2008 earnings guidance as well.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
