Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: After a narrowly mixed opening, stocks on Wall Street improved partly on Boeing's better-than-expected earnings which overshadowed that big loss from Ambac. At 11:00 a.m., the Dow was up 88 points and solid buying in the tech sector lifted the NASDAQ Composite to a good 31-point gain. Then computer sell programs sent the Dow to a two-point loss at 1:00 p.m., but continuing firmness in the tech sector helped get the blue chips back on the plus side by the final bell. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 42.99 points at 12,763.22. The NASDAQ Composite gained 28.27 to 2405.21. Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 3.99 ending at 1379.93. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 10/32 to 98 2/32, putting the yield at 3.74 percent.
New York Exchange volume leader on 23.1 million shares, Pfizer (PFE) moving up $0.09. Followed by Ford Motor Co (F) a $0.13 drop.
Citigroup (C) fell $0.49.
And American Water Works (AWK) was a new issue, it came public today on 58 million shares offered at $21.50, never got to that offering price. It opened at $20.60. The high of the day was $21.14, not a very good debut.
General Electric (GE) a $0.03 gainer.
Then we move to SprintNextel (S), $0.62 advance.
Ambac Financial (ABK) plunging $2.57. You heard about that massive loss.
Then came EMC Corp (EMC) with a $0.30 gain.
While National City (NCC) dropped $0.30.
Bank of America (BAC) a $0.14 loss there.
Philip Morris (PM), the recent spin off from Altria, up $1.93 today. First quarter earnings out, $0.89 versus $0.69 last year and $0.12 above the Wall Street estimate. Revenues were up 18 percent. That chart looks kind of funny because it's such a new issue.
Safeco (SAF), look at that gain, $20.71. The property and casualty insurance company will be acquired by privately held Liberty Mutual for a price of $68.25 a share, huge gain today.
VMware (VMW) up $2.82. First quarter earnings out, $0.22, versus $0.16 last year. The company sees 2008 revenue growth of 50 percent.
Rockwell Automation (ROK) down $5.56. Sharp drop in second quarter earnings to $0.96 versus last year's $4.45 a share.
Norfolk Southern (NSC), the big rail, down $2.40. First quarter earnings, $0.76, up from $0.71 last year, but $0.02 below the Wall Street estimate, no room for disappointment in this market.
Delphi Financial Group (DFG) plunging $6.88. First quarter operating earnings, $0.51, way down from $0.79 last year and the company cut its 2008 operating earnings guidance down to about $3 to $3.30 at best.
Monaco Coach (MNC) down $1.36, first quarter loss of $0.28 versus earnings of a nickel last year. Sales plunged 22 percent. The company sees a second quarter loss of $0.15 to $0.20 a share.
Teledyne Technologies (TDY), there's a nice gain of $9.25. First quarter earnings, $0.77. That was $0.10 above the Wall Street estimate. That is excluding one-time items.
Edwards Lifesciences (EW) up $6.38. First quarter earnings $0.56, up from $0.54 last year on a 12 percent rise in sales. The company boosted its 2008 sales guidance by $50 million.
Tupperware Brands (TUP) sealed up a gain of $4.81 today. First quarter earnings, $0.55, well above $0.32 last year. Revenues up 19 percent and the company boosted its 2008 earnings guidance by $0.07, up $2.54 a share.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, closing up $2.69. As you heard, second quarter earnings, $0.07 above the Street estimate, but the outlook rather downbeat. In after hours, I saw the stock around $161 a share.
Microsoft (MSFT) up $1.20.
Google (GOOG) fell $8.51.
Baidu.com (BIDU) $0.44 drop there.
Research in Motion (RIMM) lost a half a dollar a share.
Broadcom (BRCM) up $3.82. First quarter earnings out, $0.14, well above last year's $0.10 on a 50 percent increase in revenues, all better than expected. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" on Broadcom.
Intel (INTC) $0.57 gain.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.52 rise there.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $1.40. After the close, first quarter earnings out, $0.34, versus $0.26 and it boosted its 2008 forecast, but nevertheless, there's some worry (INAUDIBLE) analysts about profit margins and the stock dropped almost $5 a share in after hours trading.
Yahoo! (YHOO) down $0.46. Earnings out yesterday as we reported.
Anadigics (ANAD) up $2.76. First quarter earnings out, $0.15, almost double last year's $0.08 and that was a nickel above the Wall Street estimate.
And finally, look at this gain, Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (SIRT) soared $10.02 on news it will be acquired by Glaxosmithkline for $22.50 per share cash.
