Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street finally moved into higher ground this morning as buyers hunted for bargains brought on by this bear market. The upturn was also helped by reports the Chinese government is mulling another stimulus program to boost its economy. By noon, the Dow was up 160 points with a 37 point gain in the NASDAQ. The Dow surged to a 240-point gain early in the final hour of trading, but gave some of it back before the closing bell. The Dow Industrial Average ended the day up 149.82 points at 6875.84. The NASDAQ Composite rose 32.73 to 1353.74. Standard & Poor's 500 gained 16.54 ending at 712.87. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 24/32 to 98 2/32, putting the yield at 2.98 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue on 113 million shares, Citigroup (C) losing $0.09 a share.
Then General Electric (GE) with a $0.32 loss, traded as low as $5.87 today. The cost of insuring GE Capital's debt has hit a record high, but the company said it has no plans to raise more equity capital. That prompted some short covering and so did work that management has been buying stock. However, Pimco is predicting GE is on the verge of losing its coveted triple A rating.
Bank of America (BAC) lost a nickel.
And then Wells Fargo (WFC) down $1.01. Standard & Poor's noted that Wells is the only large bank to maintain its dividend so far, but sees a cut coming in the next few months.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $1.71.
Pfizer (PFE) moved up $0.63.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) up $1.51.
Sprint Nextel (S) edged up $0.04.
ExxonMobil (XOM) a gain of $1.32.
And Petrobras (PBR), tenth in volume, was up $2.09.
Caterpillar (CAT) gained $2.97 on reports the Chinese government will soon announce an economic stimulus package and that would include infrastructure spending and that's where Cat would benefit.
And then we see Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold (FCX) up $3.80. That's a positive reaction to China's stimulus plans as well.
Loser, US Bancorp (USB) down $1.57. The company's cutting its quarterly dividend 88 percent. It'll go from $0.425 to only a nickel a share. That will lower the yield to a mere 1 1/2 percent. Standard & Poor's has repeated a "sell" on the stock.
BJ's Wholesale Club (BJ) up $1.98, higher earnings fourth quarter, $0.89, up from last year's $0.80, $0.03 above the Street estimate. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" on the stock.
Another retailer, Big Lots (BIG) up $2.61. Fourth quarter earnings of $1, up from $0.97 last year and $0.07 above the Street estimate. Standard & Poor's upgraded the stock from "hold" to "buy."
Greatbatch (GB) up $2.57. The company makes medical devices and reported sharply higher fourth quarter earnings of $0.50 versus only $0.20 a year ago and sales were up 74 percent.
Rehabcare (RHB) gained $2.60. Fourth quarter excluding items, $0.41, $0.15 better than the Street expected. Revenues up 13 percent.
And Life Sciences Research (LSR) up $1.25. The chairman is offering to buy the company for $7.50 a share. He already owns 17 percent.
Celanese (CE) gained $1.70, upgrades from Goldman Sachs from "neutral" to "buy."
And then Alberto Culver (ACV) gained $1.31. The Caris brokerage upgraded it from "above average" to a "buy."
NASDAQ's most active Google (GOOG) losing $6.56.
But Apple (AAPL) up $2.80. The company's iPod and iPhone users can now read books on their devices using amazon.com's new Kindle electronic reader.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.24 gain.
Intel (INTC) $0.48 rise there.
Oracle (ORCL) lost a nickel. That was fifth in volume.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) up $0.86.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $1.29 advance.
Research in Motion (RIMM) gained $2.54.
Amazon.com (AMZN) itself up $3.11 on that Apple device news.
And Apollo Group (APOL) losing $5.60.
And finally, shares in Dryships (DRYS) jumped $1.11. Oppenheimer sees dry bulk carriers benefiting from China's stimulus plan due to increased demand for iron ore imports.
