Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
|
|
|
|
PAUL KANGAS: Sharp declines overseas brought out the bears on Wall Street early today. The blue chips plunged 400 points at the outset of trading while the NASDAQ off 40 points. A huge third quarter loss at Wachovia and lower earnings from Boeing and Merck added to the selling. The losses were trimmed a bit over the mid-session, but all bets were off in the final hour of trading as stocks plunged to fresh lows. The Dow Industrial Average off almost 700 points ended the day down 514.45 at 8519.21. The NASDAQ Composite ended with a loss of 80.93 at 1615.75. Standard & Poor's 500 fell 58.27 to 896.78. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note rose 1 5/32 to 103 9/32, putting the yield at 3.60 percent.
New York exchange volume leader on 24 3/4 million shares, General Electric (GE) losing $1.39.
Followed by Citigroup (C) $0.86 drop there.
Wachovia (WB) off $0.38. The company reported a whopping third quarter loss this morning of $24 billion. That's $11.18 a share in the red versus earnings of $0.85 a year ago.
Bank of America (BAC) down $1.31.
Then came Pfizer (PFE) with a $0.60.
Then moving along in the actives, Wells Fargo (WFC), which is buying of course Wachovia, down $1.34.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) fell $2.57.
ExxonMobil (XOM) off $6.93. Oil in New York was down about $5.50 a barrel to $66.75 per barrel.
American International Group (AIG) dropped a dime.
And then AT&T (T) off $1.95. AT&T out with third quarter earnings, $0.55 versus $0.50 a year ago, but on an adjusted basis, they were $0.67 and that was $0.04 below the Street estimate. Revenues were up 4 percent.
Merck (MRK) down $1.96. Third quarter earnings out, $0.80, up from $0.75 a year ago, a penny above the Street estimate. But the company is cutting 7,200 jobs and sees a lower outlook and that's why they're job cutting.
Boeing co (BA) off $3.49 on lower third quarter earnings, $0.94 versus $1.43, $0.04 below the Street estimate. Revenues fell 7.4 percent and of course the ongoing strike is hurting the company's outlook.
McDonald's (MCD) $0.95 loss even though third quarter earnings jumped to $1.05 versus $0.89 a year ago, $0.07 better than the Street was expecting and the CEO said the company continues to be recession proof.
General Dynamics (GD) up $1.01, one of the few gainers in the big blue chip list. Third quarter earnings rose 16 to $1.59 versus $1.34 a year ago, $0.08 better than the Street was expecting. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" recommendation.
Major loser, Coventry Healthcare (CVH) losing 51 percent of its value with that loss of over $14. Third quarter earnings dropped to only $0.58 from $1.08 a year ago and the company cut its 2008 earnings guidance. JPMorgan downgraded it from "neutral" to "under weight."
And Kindred Healthcare (KND) plunging $7.34. The company cut its third quarter earnings guidance from $0.20 to $0.25 a share in earnings to only $0.01 to $0.03 per share in earnings.
And finally we see Tupperware brands (TUP), would you believe it sealed up a gain of $2.18? Third quarter earnings, $0.44, up from $0.31 a year ago. Revenues up 13 percent.
Now let's have a look at the NASDAQ most active. Apple (AAPL) up $5.38. After the close yesterday, fourth quarter earnings came in at $1.26 versus $1.01. Today the Needham brokerage repeated a "strong buy" with a $240 a share price target on Apple stock.
Microsoft (MSFT) off $1.83.
Similar loss in Research in Motion (RIMM).
Google (GOOG) down $7.08.
And then Cisco Systems (CSCO) fell $0.45.
Intel (INTC) $0.67 loss there.
Qualcomm (QCOM) lost nearly $1.
And then finally a gainer, Baidu.com (BIDU) up $0.42.
First Solar (FSLR) down $3.92.
Amazon.com (AMZN) closed down $0.24. After the close, third quarter earnings $0.27, up from $0.19 last year, $0.02 above the Street estimate, but the fourth quarter (ph) sales were rather mediocre. The stock plunged to $43 in after hours trading.
Amgen (AMGN) down $2.63. After hours, it reported third quarter earnings of $1.23 versus last year's $1.08, $0.15 better than the Street estimate. In after hours trading, the stock got as high as $52.25, nice gain from there.
And finally, Sandisk (SNDK) fell $4.67 after Samsung withdrew its $26 per share cash buyout bid.
