Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street headed sharply lower this morning as recession jitters were elevated by the extraordinary measures the government is taking to help companies stay afloat and to help borrowers stay in their homes. The Dow spent the first half of the session flirting with a 300 point loss and the NASDAQ was off about 50 points on average. Light volume prompted an afternoon rally, but the best it could do was trim the closing losses. The Dow Industrial Average ended down at 176.58 points at 8,693.96. The NASDAQ Composite fell 35.84 to 1,580.90, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index down 20.25 points at 898.96. The bond market was closed in observance of the Veterans Day holiday.
Most active big board issue on 20 million shares, Citigroup (C) losing $0.41. The company is modifying $20 billion in its mortgages for borrowers who are at risk of falling behind.
General Electric (GE) in there with a $0.64 loss. Then Bank America (BAC) a $0.79 drop there.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) lost $0.06.
And then American Intl Group (AIG) dropping $0.02, very active.
Las Vegas Sands (LVS) tumbling $2.66. The company priced 181.8 million share public offering of common stock at $5.50 a share. It's also offering warrants to purchase 86 million common shares at an exercised price of $6 a share, a lot of earnings dilution there.
ExxonMobil (XOM) down $1.37. Oil prices lower today.
There you see it, General Motors (GM) had a 65-year low down $0.44 at under $3.
Wells Fargo (WFC) $0.21 gain.
And then Pfizer (PFE) in there with a $0.17 advance.
Goldman Sachs Group (GS) up $3.47. It fell as low as $66.68 this morning on negative comments from the Fox (INAUDIBLE) brokerage, but it then rebounded on a Sandler O'Neil (ph) brokerage upgrade from "hold" to "buy" this afternoon.
Hartford Financial (HIG) down $3.31. A lot of the insurance companies weak after Goldman Sachs issued "sell" recommendations.
Let's have a look at some of the others that got those "sell" recommendations. Lincoln National (LNC), Metlife (MET), Principle Financial (PFG) and Prudential Financial (PRU) all significant losses on the day.
Tyco International (TYC) down $3.60. Fourth quarter earnings were higher, $0.81 versus $0.57 a year ago, $0.08 above the Street estimate, but the company's outlook for next year was very guarded and that obviously hurt the stock.
Genworth Financial (GNW) losing $1.48. Moody's downgraded the company's debt to A-1 from AA-3, making it ineligible for the government's commercial paper facility. That's a real blow to Genworth.
Tyson Foods (TSN) off $1.58. JPMorgan downgraded it from "over weight" to "neutral."
Hospitality Properties Trust (HPT) up $1.63, nice move there. Funds from the company's REIT operations for the third quarter earned $1.06 a share, down from $1.21 last year, but $0.03 better than the Street was expecting.
CB Richard Ellis Group (CBG), commercial real estate services firm, plans a public offering of 50 million shares. Standard & Poor's downgraded the stock from "hold" to a "sell" today.
Bowne & Co (BNE) down $3.15. Third quarter loss of $0.43. The Street was looking for an earnings of $0.04 a share, so quite a disappointment.
And then KKR Financial Holdings (KNF) losing $1.29 or almost 40 percent of its value. The company had a drop in third quarter earnings to $0.33 from $2.98 a share last year. It's suspending its third quarter dividend and in order to retain capital, Citigroup downgraded it from "hold" to "sell."
And then Dicks Sporting Goods (DKS) off $2.24. Wedbush Morgan downgraded it from "buy" to "hold."
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) down $1.11.
Followed by Google (GOOG) down $7.32. Goldman Sachs cut Goggle's price target from $520 to $475 a share, also cut next year's earnings estimate.
Microsoft (MSFT) down a dime.
$0.69 loss in Research in Motion (RIMM).
Intel (INTC) fell $0.42 a share.
Baidu.com (BIDU) down $20.45.
$0.39 loss in Cisco Systems (CSCO).
Qualcomm (QCOM) off $0.24.
First Solar (FSLR) tumbling $7.60.
And then Oracle (ORCL) a $0.27 loss.
And finally, shares of Focus Media (FMCN) plunged $7.26. Third quarter profits met estimates, but the firm issued a cautious outlook due to the slumping advertising market in China.
