Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, May 02, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened higher on that smaller than expected job loss as well as on the Fed's credit moves. After an hour of trading, the Dow was up 81 points while the NASDAQ gained only four points. That laggard tech sector acted as a drag on the blue chips over the mid-session hours, as did a rebound in oil futures. At 2:30 the Dow posted a 15 point loss and the NASDAQ off 18, but then some late buying led to a mixed close. The Dow Industrial Average ended with a gain of 48.20 at 13,058.20. This week, it fell three times, rose twice, had a net gain of 166.34 points. The NASDAQ Composite lost 3.72, ending at 2476.99 today. It fell twice and rose three times for the week, advancing 54.06 points overall. Standard & Poor's 500 Index gained 4.56 to 1413.90 today and it rose 16.06 points for the week. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 23/32 to 97 3/32, putting the yield at 3.86 percent.
Big board volume leader trading 17 million shares, Ford Motor Co (F) losing $0.21.
Followed by Citigroup (C) up $0.40. Then came Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.17 gain. The company's in a tentative settlement with some of the plaintiff groups who allege Pfizer's painkiller Celebrex and Bextra (ph) caused heart attacks and strokes. The company is willing to pay $500 million overall to resolve the litigation.
National City (NCC) up $0.17. The company issued 126.2 million common shares today, priced at $5 each. Bank of America (BAC) edged up $0.40 a share.
General Electric (GE) $0.22 gain.
SprintNextel (S) dropped $0.13.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) a $0.59 loss.
Wachovia (WS) edged $0.04 higher.
Countrywide Financial (CFC) down $0.07. Standard & Poor's today cut the company's credit ratings to junk. Chevron (CVX) moved up $0.38. First quarter earnings, 9.6 percent, higher than last year at $2.48. That's $0.07 above the Street estimate and of course, yesterday as we reported, Chevron boosted its quarterly dividend 12 percent to $0.65 a share now.
Marathon Oil (MRO) up $2.89. JPMorgan upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight."
And then Triumph Group (TGI), which is in the aircraft components business, fourth quarter earnings $1.26, $0.22 higher than the Street was expecting and well above $0.93 a year ago and the company says it has a very strong backlog.
Calgon Carbon (CCC) up $1.42. First quarter earnings, $0.21 and that does include an $0.11 per one-time gain and that's up from a nickel a year ago. Revenues were up 8.8 percent in the period.
And then Barnes Group (B) which makes aerospace parts, first quarter earnings nicely higher, $0.60 versus $0.50 last year and it is bullish on the outlook.
Dolby Labs (DLB), the audio products maker, up $4.46. Second quarter earnings moved up to $0.49 from $0.34 a year ago, a 34 percent rise in sales. Those earnings $0.07 better than the Street expected.
Chiquita Brands (CQB), the banana company, up $1.61. First quarter earnings of $0.72 versus a loss of $0.08 last year.
And then a recent new issue in December, Netsuite (N) today down $3.50. The company had a first quarter loss of $0.03, nowhere near as bad as the $1.24 loss a year ago, but a penny worse than expected and down went the stock.
Federal Signal (FSS) off $1.28. First quarter earnings fell to $0.09 from $0.15 a year ago. Standard & Poor's downgraded it from "hold" to "sell."
And then Armstrong World Industries (AW) down $2.43. First quarter earnings dropped to $0.33 from $0.55 a year ago. Revenues fell 4 percent.
Apple (AAPL) topped NASDAQ's most active list, gaining $0.94.
But Google (GOOG) down $11.79 after a big gain yesterday.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up nearly $4.
And then Yahoo! (YHOO) $1.86 gainer there and you heard the story going on between Microsoft and Yahoo!
$0.16 loss in Microsoft (MSFT).
Cisco Systems (CSCO) an $0.08 gainer there.
Baidu.com (BIDU) lost $8.50 a share.
Intel (INTC) $0.29 gain.
First Solar (FSLR) up $12.89.
And Sun Micro (SUNW) down $3.69. The company out with third quarter results, a loss of $0.04 versus earnings of $0.07 last year. That does include acquisition costs, but the company's going to cut 2500 jobs.
Elsewhere, INVESTools (SWIM) plunged $3.62. First quarter earnings of $0.17 versus a loss of $0.36 last year, but that was still $0.04 below the Street consensus and also the company is the subject of an SEC investigation regarding its presentations at recent seminars.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
