Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street awaken to carryover buying from yesterday's big rally. Thirty minutes into today's session, the Dow posted a 79 point advance while the NASDAQ was up 23 points. The upturn faded in the absence of any major bullish developments so by 1:0 p.m. the blue chips were down 28 points. Several comeback attempts fell short this afternoon, but the market did manage to eke out a positive close. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended with a gain of 3.91 at 6930.40. The NASDAQ Composite up 13.36 ending at 1371.64, while the Standard & Poor's 500 Index edged up 1.76 to 721.36. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note gained 27/32 to 98 21/32, putting the yield at 2.91 percent.
Once again most active big board issue on 212.3 million shares today was Citigroup (C) edging up another $0.09.
Then Bank of America (BAC) with a $0.14 gain.
General Electric (GE) lost $0.38.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) up $0.90.
And then Wells Fargo (WFC) with a $0.07 advance.
Pfizer (PFE) down $0.30.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) was up $0.08.
Morgan Stanley (MS) rose $1.67. Goldman Sachs upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" in the belief Morgan Stanley could repay its TARP fund loan next year.
Same story with US Bancorp (USB), Goldman Sachs upgraded it from "sell" to "neutral."
And then Schering-Plough (SGP), which is being taken over by Merck, a $0.24 loss.
American Express (AXP) was down $0.24, traded as low as $11.l9 today. Goldman Sachs downgraded it from "neutral" to a "sell."
Goldman Sachs (GS) itself did well, up $7.11. The company's improved outlook for the banking sector appears to be helping its own stock and incidentally, Goldman's first quarter results are due out next Monday.
Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) up $1.57. UBS Financial upgraded it from "neutral" to a "buy."
And staffing firm Korn/Ferry Intl (KFY) down $1.24 on lower third quarter earnings, much lower, $0.08 versus $0.37 last year and revenues tumbled 32 percent.
Vail Resorts (MTN) a $2.05 gain there. Second quarter earnings, $1.65, well above $1.31 last year. The company will cut wages of its staff anywhere from 2 1/2 to 10 percent.
Big Lots (BIG) up $1.23. JPMorgan upgraded to "neutral" to "over weight" on the positive outlook for the company's same store sales.
Buckle (BKE), the apparel retailer, a $0.46 gain on the close. It was as high as $25.50 today after reporting fourth quarter earnings of $0.74, up from last year's $0.63. Same store sales up a hefty 21 percent. Standard & Poor's repeated a "buy" on Buckle.
Collective Brands (PSS) down $1.98. The footwear retailer had a fourth quarter loss of $0.55. That was partly due to the cost of acquiring Stride Rite.
And then the brewing company, Boston Beer (SAM) down $3.82. Fourth quarter earnings $0.25, well below $0.46 last year. That was despite a 12 percent rise in revenues.
And Lumber Liquidators (LL) up $1.12. The company doubled its fourth quarter earnings from last year, $0.24 versus $0.12 and a 10 percent rise in sales.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, up $4.05. The company unveiled a new iPod shuffle which is smaller in size with a bigger memory and it talks.
Google (GOOG) up $9.74.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.63 advance.
Intel (INTC) up $0.04.
Amazon.com (AMZN) gained $2.83, nice move there.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $1.38.
Qualcomm (QCOM) lost a penny.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.39 advance.
First Solar (FSLR) down $0.76.
And then Oracle (ORCL) was up $0.25.
And finally, priceline.com (PCLN) slid $5.34 after rival Expedia began offering travelers their last night free on stays of three to five nights at 700 participating hotels.
