Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, April 17, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Weak but better than expected results from Citi and General Electric couldn't keep Wall Street from a dull and mostly down morning. The Dow fell about 30 points at worst (ph) while the NASDAQ was down an average of 16 points. Then, buyers moved in, lifting the Dow to a 47-point gain at 2:00 p.m. However, normal pre-weekend investor caution turned the market just barely positive by the closing bell. So the Dow Industrial Average ended up only 5.90 points at 8,131.33. This week, it fell twice and rose three times, had a net gain of 47.95 points. The NASDAQ Composite rose 2.63 ending at 1,673.07. It fell only once this week and climbed 20.53 points overall. Standard & Poor's 500 rose 4.30 points to close at 869.60 today and for the week, it was up 13.04 points overall. In the bond market, the 10-year note fell 30/32 to 98 9/32, putting the yield up to 2.95 percent.
Big board volume leader, 150.7 million shares changing hands, Citigroup (C) down $0.36. As you heard, first quarter loss of $0.18 but that was $0.26 better than expected and a lot less than last year's loss of $1.03 a share. Earnings from the credit card business for the company incidentally fell 66 percent.
There you see Bank of America (BAC) down, up $0.26.
And then General Electric (GE) with a $0.12 gain. GE out with those earnings first quarter, $0.26, down from $0.43 but a nickel better than the Street was expecting.
Wells Fargo & Co (WFC) $0.81 advance there.
American International Group (AIG) lost $0.07, fifth in volume.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) edged $0.02 higher.
Pfizer (PFE) a $0.26 advance.
Ford Motor Co (F) down $0.16.
AT&T (T) dropped $0.04.
Tenth in volume was ExxonMobil (XOM) with a $0.66 drop.
McGraw-Hill Companies (MHP) did well, up $1.72. JPMorgan upgraded it from "neutral" to "over weight" on the bright prospects for the company's Standard & Poor's unit.
And then CBS (CBS) good percentage gain there, almost 20 percent, up $1.11. Some analysts believe broadcast advertising may be nearing a bottom.
BB&T (BBT) a $2.35 advance. First quarter earnings dropped to only $0.48 from $0.78 last year, but that was $0.17 better than the Street was expecting.
Mattel (MAT), the toy company, up $1.98 despite a first quarter loss of $0.14, a penny worse than expected, but the company said it's first quarter U.S. Barbie doll sales were up 18 percent.
Tempur-Pedic International (TPX), the mattress company, up $1.59, $0.18 in first quarter earnings, same as last year, even though revenues jumped or fell 28 percent and those earnings were $0.06 better than expected incidentally and the Stiefel Nicholas brokerage repeated a "buy" on Tempur-Pedic.
Tyco Electronics Ltd (TEL) moving up $1.96. The company's in a deal to sell its wireless systems business to Aris (ph) Corporation for $675 million in cash.
And then specialty chemical maker Cytec Industries (CYT) plunging $2.75. First quarter earnings of only $0.06, down from $1.08 last year and sales dropped 37 percent. The company is cutting its quarterly dividend by 90 percent, so that makes that 2.4 percent yield no longer accurate.
And then Superior Energy Services (SPN) was up $1.64, nice percentage move. Citigroup started coverage with a "buy" on Superior.
NASDAQ's most active Google (GOOG) up $3.50. It traded just below $400 today at one stage. Standard & Poor's repeated a "strong buy" on the company's cost-cutting measures coming up.
Apple (AAPL) up $1.97. Its quarterly results are due out next week Wednesday.
Research in Motion (RIMM), $0.84 gain there.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.56 drop. Its results are due out next Thursday.
And then Intel (INTC) in there with a $0.29 loss.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.09 drop there.
Qualcomm (QCOM) fell $0.66.
Oracle (ORCL) $0.12 loss.
Dryships (DRYS) a huge gain percentage wise, up $1.62 after Oppenheimer upgraded it from "market perform" to "out perform."
And Amazon.com (AMZN) tenth in NASDAQ volume was up $0.80 a share.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
