Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: That drop in consumer confidence had Wall Street on the defensive early today, sending the blue chip Dow down 62 points by 11:00 a.m. But most of that loss was due to a $4, over a $4 tumble in Merck shares on news that the FDA rejected its new cholesterol drug. The market made a slow recovery over the mid-session hours thanks partly to a sharp decline in oil futures. By 3:00 p.m., the major indices were slightly positive, but some late selling resulted in a mixed close. The Dow Industrial Average ended down 39.81 points at 12,831.94. The NASDAQ managed to gain 1.70 to 2,426.10. Standard & Poor's 500 Index fell 5.43 ending at 1,390.94. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 2/32 to 97 12/32, putting the yield at 3.83 percent.
Big board volume leader on 16 million shares, Merck (MRK) down $4.30. That drop accounted for 35 points in the Dow's 39-point closing loss and the story of course, FDA failed to approve the company's new cholesterol drug called Cordaptiv (ph).
Then came Pfizer (PFE) with a penny gain.
Ford (F) down $0.09 after some recent strength.
Motorola (MOT) $0.54 advance.
And Citigroup (C) a $0.49 loss. Just after the close, Citigroup announced that it's going to have a $3 billion common stock offering. After hours trading, the stock fell another $0.80 a share or so.
General Electric (GE) down $0.35.
Altria (MO) fell $1.05. Morgan Stanley downgraded the tobacco sector from "attractive" to "in line" today.
ExxonMobil (XOM) losing $0.66.
First Horizon (FHN) up $0.08.
And then Corning (GLW) with a $0.85 gain. Corning in with first quarter earnings better than triple, $0.64 a share versus only $0.20 a share a year ago.
IBM (IBM) did well, up $1.16. The company's boosting its quarterly dividend by 25 percent. It'll go from $0.40 to $0.50 a share.
US Steel (X) down $1.65, traded as low as $147.25 after reporting a 14 percent drop in first quarter earnings to $1.98 versus last year's $2.30.
Mastercard (MA) up $31.48. First quarter earnings were big, $3.38, way up from $1.57 a year ago, revenues up 29 percent. Standard & Poor's upgraded the stock from "hold" to a "buy."
Another credit card company, Visa (V) up $5.25. RBC Capital boosted its price target on Visa from $80 to $84, especially after yesterday's good earnings.
Burlington Northern (BNI), the big rail company, up $1.60. First quarter earnings rose 30 percent over last year, $1.30 versus $0.96. That was $0.08 better than the Street expected.
And Lear Corp (LEA), the auto seating company, first quarter earnings of $1, up from $0.64 a year ago. The company said lower costs offset a 12 percent drop in revenues.
Flowserve (FLS) $9.61 gain there. First quarter earnings, $1.53, way above last year's $0.59. The company boosted its 2008 earnings estimate from a high of $5.40 now to as much as $6.20 a share.
Gildan Activewear (GIL) tumbling nearly $11 a share after the company cut its second quarter earnings estimate from $0.42 down to $0.35 on lower than expected sales growth.
Energizer (ENR) off $10.60. Second quarter earnings came in at $1.10 versus $1.14 last year. That was $0.31 below the Street estimate. Higher costs offset a 30 percent jump in sales.
And then Genentech (DNA) losing $5.23. The company and its partner Biogen say phase II and III studies of its Retuxan (ph) drug for treating lupus did not meet the primary end point.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $2.81.
Followed by Google (GOOG) up $6.35.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.35 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $3.90.
Baidu.com (BIDU) after good earnings out recently, up $13.45.
First Solar (FSLR) down $0.60.
Yahoo (YHOO) a $0.93 advance.
Cisco (CSCO) rose $0.16.
DirecTV (DTV) up $0.32.
And then came Intel (INTC) with a $0.09 loss, tenth in volume.
LCA Vision (LCAV), they're in the laser surgery business, came in with a big loss of $2.42 after first quarter earnings dropped 37 percent from last year, $0.37 in earnings versus $0.54 then. That was $0.11 below the Wall Street estimate.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
