Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Stocks started the day in rally mode, but some disappointing earnings turned things around. An hour into trading the Dow was up nearly 70 points while the NASDAQ rose 30 points. Then worries about yesterday's disappointing results from Disney and today's earnings shortfall from Kraft blunted the upturn by mid-session. And then haggling over the Obama economic stimulus plan appeared to trigger investor uncertainty and an afternoon sell-off. So the Dow Industrial Average ended with a loss of 121.70 points at 7956.66. The NASDAQ Composite down 1.25 points at 1515.05. Standard & Poor's 500 fell 6.28 to 832.23. In the bond market, the 10- year note fell 14/32 to 106 28/32, putting the yield at 2.94 percent.
Just like yesterday, Bank of America (BAC) topped the active list today on a very heavy 109 million shares. The stock down $0.60 or 11 percent. Banks generally weak again on uncertainty on how the Obama administration plans to stabilize the bank sector.
Citigroup (C) bucked the trend, up $0.03.
But General Electric (GE) down $0.11.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) a $0.77 gain.
And Pfizer (PFE) $0.31 loss there.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) a penny loser.
And then Wells Fargo (WFC) down $0.74.
Motorola (MOT) down $0.29. Yesterday it reported a big fourth quarter loss and suspended its quarterly dividend of $0.05 a share.
Disney (DIS) losing $1.62. After the close yesterday as we reported, Disney had $0.41 in first quarter earnings, $0.10 below the Street estimate. Revenues fell 8 percent.
Then Dow Chemical (DOW), tenth in volume, was down $0.58.
Philip Morris (PM) the spin-off from the major company, down $1.54. Fourth quarter earnings came in at $0.71 versus $0.74 last year, but that was $0.09 above the Street estimate. However, the company sees 2009 earnings at $3 a share at best and the Wall Street estimate is for $3.32.
Kraft Foods (KFT) down $2.63. Fourth quarter earnings fell to only $0.11 from $0.38 last year. Restructuring costs were part of the problem and those earnings were a penny below Street estimates. Standard & Poor's repeated a "strong buy" on Kraft however.
Archer-Daniels (ADM) down $2.11. After the close yesterday, second quarter earnings out, $0.91 versus $0.73 a year ago, but today, JPMorgan brokerage downgraded it from "over weight" to just a "neutral" rating.
Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (FCX) up $2.11. New York gold up $9.70 an ounce, just over $900 now. UBS financial issued a "buy" on Freeport and boosted its price target from $30 to $32 a share.
Textron (TXT) all the way down to $6.28 now with that loss of nearly $1.70. The company says it has drawn the balance of its $3 billion committed bank credit line. Standard & Poor's downgraded the stock from "hold" to a "sell."
Thomas & Betts (TNB), which makes electrical components, up $3.28. Fourth quarter earnings, $0.45, way down from $0.89 last year, but the company sees 2009 earnings at a better than expected $3 a share, maybe as high as $3.50 a share.
Massey Energy (MEE) down $1.90, $0.63 in fourth quarter earnings, way above $0.06 last year. Revenues up 29 percent, but the company said it sees significantly lower demand and prices for coal this year.
Universal Technology Institute (UTI) plunging $5.83. First quarter earnings fell to only $0.09 from $0.24 last year on flat revenues. Those earnings of $0.09, $0.11 below the Street estimate.
And finally Diebold (DBD), the ATM manufacturer down $1.93 in part of sharply lower fourth quarter earnings only $0.40. That's down from $0.67 a year ago.
NASDAQ's most active, Apple (AAPL) up $0.57.
And then Google (GOOG) up $2.55. Google wants Time Warner to buy back Google's 5 percent stake in AOL.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.13 gain although founder Bill Gates is predicting more economic weakness for the next three to four years.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) closed up $0.22. After the close, Cisco out with second quarter earnings of $0.32, $0.02 above the Street estimate, but it gave a third quarter estimate for a 15 to 20 percent drop in revenues. After hours trading, the stock was down about $0.60.
Research in Motion (RIMM) $0.44 gain.
Intel (INTC) $0.29 advance.
Costco Wholesale (COST) down $3.14. The company sees second quarter earnings substantially below the $0.70 per share that Wall Street has estimated.
And then Amazon.com (AMZN) down $2.53.
Qualcomm (QCOM) off $0.39.
But First Solar (FSLR) up $4.45.
And finally, shares of Illumina (ILMN) surged $5.92 on solid fourth quarter earnings of $0.30 per share up from $0.19 a year ago. It also gave an upbeat forecast.
