Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Friday, May 01, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street opened the month of May with a round of profit taking in the wake of April's big stock gains. Adding to the bearish mood, news that March factory orders fell a worse than expected 0.9 percent. So an hour into trading, the Dow posted a 58 point loss with the NASDAQ down 12 points. Stronger than expected April manufacturing activity and consumer sentiment helped overcome that early weakness and the major indices turned positive by the final bell. The Dow Industrial Average closed up 44.29 at 8212.41. This week it rose twice and fell three times. It had a net advance of 136.12 points. The NASDAQ Composite was up 1.90 at 1719.20 today. For the week it fell twice and rose three times for an overall gain of 24.91 points. Standard & Poor's 500 advanced 4.71 ending at 877.52 today and it gained 11.29 points for the week overall. Over in the bond market, the 10-year note fell 10/32 to 96 19/32, putting the yield at 3.16 percent.
Topping the active list on 38 1/4 million shares, Bank of America (BAC) down $0.23. As you heard the stress test setback to next Thursday.
Citigroup (C) an $0.08 loss there.
And then Ford Motor (F) down $0.29.
General Electric (GE) moved up $0.04.
And Wells Fargo (WFC) a $0.40 loss.
Pfizer (PFE) gained $0.22.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) down $0.51.
Co Vale do Rio (RIO) up $0.91.
Morgan Stanley (MS) had a good day, up $2.18.
And then Sprint Nextel (S) a $0.31 gain there.
Chevron (CVX) was up $0.77 even though first quarter earnings tumbled 64 percent from last year, $0.92 versus $2.48. I guess that was widely expected.
Mastercard (MA) had a rough day, down $10.55 and it traded as low as $163.65 after reporting first quarter earnings down 18 percent to $2.80 from $3.37 last year. Revenues dropped 2 percent and the company warned its 2009 revenue growth will fall short of its objective.
Metlife (MET), big insurance company, down $2.30. First quarter operating earnings, $0.20, way down from $1.46 last year, $0.14 below the estimate on the Street.
Another insurance company, Aon Corp (AOC) losing $5.82. First quarter earnings were higher, $0.76 versus $0.70 last year, but $0.12 below the Wall Street estimate.
General Cable (BGC) moving up $5.86. First quarter earnings, $0.92, down a bit from $1.08 last year, but the Street was looking for only $0.56 and so that was $0.36 better than expected and a nice move in the stock to go with it.
McAfee (MFE), the Internet security firm, up $2.92, $0.34 in first quarter earnings, well above last year's $0.18 and revenues jumped a respectable 21 percent.
Mettler Toledo (MTD), this is a precision scale company. First quarter earnings $0.95, down from $1.01 last year, but $0.14 above the Street estimate. The Baird brokerage upgraded it from "neutral" to "out perform."
Dean Foods (DF) down $1.77, $0.52 first quarter earnings, down from or up from $0.23 last year, but the company plans a 22 1/2 million share common stock offering. That would represent earnings dilution. The stock moved down on the news.
Chiquita Brands (CQB) up $1.57, first quarter operating earnings, $0.49, down from $0.94 last year, but $0.21 above the Street estimate.
And then we see PerkinElmer (PKI) up $2.90. First quarter earnings, $0.26, same as last year, but $0.06 above the Wall Street consensus.
NASDAQ's most active Apple (AAPL) up $1.41. Dow Jones reported the company may lower the price of some of its computers in light of the recession.
Research in Motion (RIMM) up $2.80. UBS financial upgraded it from "neutral" to "buy" and boosted the price target from $65 to $90 a share.
Microsoft (MSFT) down $0.02.
First Solar (FSLR) up a huge gain yesterday, down $6.40.
Google (GOOG) $2.28 drop there.
Intel (INTC) $0.03 gain.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) $0.26 advance.
And then Dryships (DRYS) moved up $0.86.
Qualcomm (QCOM) $0.34 advance.
Amazon (AMZN) down $1.56.
Elsewhere, Celgene (CELG) down $3.18. After the close yesterday, first quarter earnings $0.44, a penny above the Street estimate, but today Credit Suisse downgraded the stock from "out perform" to "neutral" and down went the price.
Those are the stocks in the news tonight.
