Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, January 09, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: The surge in the December unemployment to 7.2 percent triggered an opening sell-off on Wall Street. An hour into trading, the Dow was off 140 points, the NASDAQ down 41 points. A late morning rally failed to gain traction as investors focused on Best Buy's gloomy outlook. Between the economic environment and pre-weekend selling, the market stayed in moderately lower (INAUDIBLE) right through to the closing bell. So the Dow Industrial Average ended down 143.28 points at 8599.18. This week, it rose only one time for an overall loss of 435.51 points. That's 4.8 percent. The NASDAQ Composite fell 45.42 points today to 1571.59, marking its third loss of the week, which brought the Index down 60.62 points over 3.7 percent overall. The Standard & Poor's 500 fell 19.38 to 890.35 today. This week, it dropped 41.45 points or nearly 4 1/2 percent. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 15/32 to 111 27/32, putting the yield at 2.39 percent.
Big board volume leader on 26 1/2 million shares, Citigroup (C) losing $0.41. As you heard, Robert Rubin stepping down from the board. Also the company expects to take a $1.4 billion fourth quarter charge because of its exposure to the bankrupt Lyondell Baizal (ph) Corporation. Sandler O'Neill and Fox Pitt brokerages both boosted Citigroup's fourth quarter loss estimate.
Bank of America (BAC) a $0.55 drop.
Sprint Nextel (S) managed a penny gain.
General Electric (GE) $0.14 loss there.
And then AT&T (T) down a half a dollar.
Wells Fargo (WFC) fell $0.58.
$0.06 drop in Ford Motor Co (F).
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) off $1.25.
Pfizer (PFE) fell $0.21.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) down $0.18 a share.
Lennar (LEN) a major casualty, down $2.27 and it traded as low as $8.23 on an allegation that the company improperly boosted cash on its balance sheet. The accuser is Barry Binkow (ph), who was hired by a disgruntled litigant. The company dismissed the allegations as false.
CVS Caremark (CVS), the big pharmacy chain, down $3.65. The company sees 2009 earnings at $2.53 to $2.61. That's below the Wachovia estimate of $2.74 and also hurting is pressure to cut costs from pharmacy benefit clients.
Best Buy Co (BBY) down $1.57. December same store sales plunged 6.8 percent. The company cut its fiscal 2009 earnings guidance from a high of $2.90 down to $2.70 a share at best and that is based on a 2 to 3 percent decline in same store sales in that period.
AZZ (AZZ), which makes electrical parts, up $2.95, big third quarter earnings, $0.88, up from $0.66 last year. Revenues jumped 26 percent. The company boosted its 2009 earnings guidance, nice day for AZZ.
Synnex (SNX), an information technology firm, up $1.41. Higher earnings, fourth quarter, $0.80, up from $0.61 last year and $0.09 above the Street estimate. Revenues rose 6 1/2 percent.
Vail Resorts (MTN) down $1.63. The company says total skier visits to the winter season to date for its five resorts down 5.8 percent from a year ago.
And Greenbrier Co (GBX) which makes rail cars and parts for rails, off $1.22. The company had a first quarter loss of $0.20 a share, versus earnings of $0.16 a year ago. Revenues fell 10 percent and Greenbrier is cutting its quarterly dividend in half from $0.08 down to $0.04 a share.
Phillips-Van Heusen (PVH) down $1.44. Wedbush Morgan brokerage downgraded it from "buy" to just a "hold" recommendation.
And Harley-Davidson (HOG) off $1.58. The president of Harley-Davidson financial, Sy Nakve (ph) is resigning and the CFO of Harley will temporarily take over that position.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) down $2.12.
Apollo Group (APOL) an $8.05 gain. The company's enrollments are very strong its University of Phoenix unit. First quarter earnings for Apollo, $1.12, way up from $0.39 last year.
Google (GOOG) down $10.12.
Research in Motion (RIMM) gained $0.96.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.84 loss there.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.60.
First Solar (FSLR) rose $7.18.
Intel (INTC) a $0.40 loss.
Qualcomm (QCOM) down $0.28.
And Oracle (ORCL) down $0.26.
Palm (PALM) up $1.51, big percentage move. Now the company's new touch screen phone is getting a very warm reception. It might give Apple quite a bit of competition. That might have been one of the reason why Apple stock fell over $2.
And finally, Rambus (RMBS) down $7.26. A judge has ruled the company can't pursue patent claims against Micron Technology because it destroyed documents critical to the case.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
