Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, August 15, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: It was a positive morning on Wall Street as stocks rallied on a higher dollar and lower oil prices. A better than expected 0.2 percent rise in industrial production also helped the Dow post a 77-point gain by 11 a.m., while the NASDAQ rose 12 points. Some strength in the retail group kept the rally alive, but weakness in the tech sector and pre-weekend caution acted as a drag on the market, cutting its gains by the final bell. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 43.97 points at 11,659.90. This week, it fell twice and rose three times, but still had a net loss of 74.42 points. The NASDAQ Composite lost 1.15 at 2,452.52 today. It rose twice and fell three times this week, but gained 38.42 overall. Standard & Poor's 500 was up 5.27 to 1,298.20 today and for the week, it rose 1.88 points. In the bond market, the 10-year note gained 15/32 to 101 9/32, lowering the yield at 3.84 percent.
Most active big board issue on 15 1/2 million shares, General Electric moving up $0.28. The company is predicting its energy transmission business will reach at least $5 billion in annual sales in five years.
Then Pfizer (PFE) up $0.19.
Citigroup (C) $0.47 gain.
Bank of America (BAC) edged up $0.52.
Wells Fargo (WFC) down $0.41. Lidenberg (ph) Thalman brokerage cut its 2008 earnings estimate for Wells Fargo from $2.34 a share down to $2.21 a share.
Kraft Foods (KFT) was up $0.27.
Then AT&T (T) $0.54 advance there.
SprintNextel (S) gained $0.52.
Ambac Financial (ABK) big percentage move, up $1.12 or 24 1/2 percent. Standard & Poor's affirmed the AA financial strength rating on the company's Ambac assurance corporation and removed it from the negative credit watch. Standard & Poor's did the same thing for MBIA's insurance corporation. MBIA stock jumped $0.90 to $11.22.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM), tenth in volume, was up $0.26 a share.
JC Penny (JCP) did well on the strong retailing group, up $3.11 there and the story, the company came in with lower second quarter earnings of $0.52, down from $0.81 last year, but that was $0.02 above the Street estimate. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" on Penny stock.
Nordstrom (JWN), another retailer, up $1.32. Second quarter earnings lower, $0.65 versus $0.71 a year ago, but a penny better than the Street was expecting.
Kohls (KSS), another retailer, up $3.52. Lower earnings again second quarter, $0.77 versus $0.83 last year, but that was $0.04 above the Street consensus.
Intl Rectifier (IRF) gaining $3.67. Vishay (ph) intertechnology (ph) is bidding $21.22 a share in cash to acquire the company. Vishay stock fell $0.81 to $9.37.
Harman Intl (HAR), maker of audio equipment, down $6. Fourth quarter earnings dropped to $0.68 from $0.98 last year and the company said lower profit margins offset a 17 percent increase in revenues. The company's cautious on the outlook and the Baird brokerage downgraded it from "out perform" to just a "neutral" rating.
Devry (DV) down $3.85. It had higher earnings, fourth quarter, $0.34, up from $0.22 last year, but $0.04 below the Street estimate, down goes the stock.
Orient Express Hotels (OEH) up $1.59. Merrill Lynch upgraded it from "under perform" to "neutral" on a valuation basis.
And then NRG Energy (NRG) up $1.93. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Corporation bought an additional 3.2 million shares of NRG.
Apple (AAPL) topped the NASDAQ actives, down $3.58.
Google (GOOG) did well, up $4.66.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.93. The Raymond James brokerage resumed coverage of RIMM with a "market perform" rating and a $140 a share price target.
Microsoft (MSFT) edged down $0.10.
And then Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.24 gain there.
Qualcomm (QCOM) was a $0.02 gainer.
Intel (INTC) dropped a dime.
Sunpower (SPWR) jumping $13.95. The company got a big deal to supply solar power to PG&E Corporation and the news powered other solar shares nicely higher.
Amgen (AMGN) up $0.85.
And then there you see First Solar (FSLR) rising $4.92.
Autodesk (ADSK) a $4.02 gain. Second quarter earnings, $0.39, just a penny more than last year, but revenues were up 18 percent. The Needham brokerage upgraded the stock from "hold" to a "buy."
And then came Lifeway Foods (LWAY), this is a health food company. Second quarter earnings dropped to $0.05 from $0.08 last year and the Lazard brokerage downgraded the stock from "buy" to just a "hold" recommendation.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
