Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Monday, July 21, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Better than expected results from Bank of America (BAC) this morning gave Wall Street an opening lift. After 30 minutes of trading, the Dow was up 15 points and the NASDAQ rose 17. The early upturn fell apart as oil prices rose and the dollar fell, sending the Dow to a 63-point loss at noon time, with the NASDAQ off 12 points. Growing caution ahead of the flood of forthcoming earnings reports kept stocks lower for the rest of the day. The Dow Industrial Average closed off 29.23 at 11,467.34. The NASDAQ composite was down 3.25 exactly, at 2,279.53, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index fell .68 to 1,260.00. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 11/32 to 98 20/32, putting the yield at 4.05 percent.
Big Board volume leader on 26.25 million shares, Bank of America, moving up $1.07. Traded as high as $30.90 after reporting second quarter earnings of $0.72, way down from $1.28 a year ago, but $0.19 better than expected. And the company will maintain its $0.64 quarterly dividend.
Citigroup up $0.34.
Wachovia rose $0.21.
But Schering-Plough down $2.49, as concerns over Vytorin overrode the company's better-than-expected earnings, as you heard.
Fannie Mae up $0.73. Traded as high as $18.49 today. This is the first day of that rule limiting naked short sells in effect. Some figured there was a lot of short covering also.
Washington Mutual (WM) down $0.44.
Merck & Co losing $2.49. After the close, we heard second quarter earnings of $0.82, a penny below the street estimate. I saw the stock as high as $36 in after-hours trading, however.
Wells Fargo (WFC) lost $0.32.
American International Group (AIG), up $1.46, getting a boost from Bank of America, which upgraded it from neutral to a buy.
Pfizer (PFE), 10th in volume, was down $0.23 a share.
American Express down $1.29. After the close, as you heard, $0.56 in second quarter earnings, $0.27 below the street consensus, and I saw the stock as low as $36 in after-hours trading. It was hit in after hours.
Genentech moving up $12.06. Roche Holdings is bidding $89 a share cash for the 44 percent of the outstanding shares that it doesn't already own.
And Texas Instruments (TXN) closed down $0.30. Second quarter earnings after the close, $0.44 versus $0.42, but $0.02 below the street estimate, and in after-hours trading, the stock fell to around $25.
Timken & Co (TKR) up $6.18, now sees third quarter earnings of $0.96 a share, up from its previous guidance of $0.73 to $0.83. And BB&T Capital brokerage upgraded it from hold to a buy.
Transalta (TAC) Corporation up $4.93. The wholesale power generation company has received a possible acquisition bid of 39 dollars a share Canadian from LS Power Equity Partners.
And then UnionBanCal Corp (UB) up $3.31. Second quarter earnings $0.97, down from $1.19 last year, but a nickel above the street estimate. The company sees third quarter up around $1.15 a share.
Nautilus Group (NLS) down $0.96. Traded as low as $4.44 today after Wedbush Morgan brokerage downgraded it from buy to just a hold.
Sherwin-Williams (SHW) down $3.67. Goldman Sachs downgraded it from neutral to sell.
And Stanley Works (SWK) down $1.81. Deutsche Bank downgraded it from buy to just a hold. Goldman Sachs said today this is the time to buy the recently depressed oils, and look how they did. Apache (APA), Cabot (COG), Conoco (COP), EOG Resources (EOG) and Hess (HES), all nice gains.
Apple topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $1.14 after the close. As you heard, good earnings, but they didn't - the investors did not like the outlook on the stock. I saw it as low as $149 in after-hours.
Google (GOOG) down $12.52.
Microsoft (MSFT) a $0.22 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) moved up $2.18.
Cisco (CSCO) an $0.18 gain itself.
Moving along, Intel (INTC) showed no change.
Gilead Sciences (GILD) up $0.11.
Qualcomm (QCOM) a $0.09 advance.
baidu.com (BIDU) up $5.46.
And Teva Pharmaceuticals (TEVA) up $0.83. Of course, it's acquiring Barr Pharmaceutical.
Elsewhere, Yahoo! (YHOO) down $0.78. Carl Icahn and two of his backers have won seats on the board of governors, promising no proxy fight.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
