Paul Kangas' Stocks in the News
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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PAUL KANGAS: Wall Street's blue chips got an early boost from higher home prices in August, but an unexpected drop in October consumer confidence took some of the spark from the early rally. We'll have details on both those reports shortly. By noontime, the Dow managed to post a 70 point gain while the NASDAQ was down seven points. Further weakness in the NASDAQ market almost wiped out the blue chips' gains in mid-afternoon, but a well-bid two-year Treasury note auction helped the Dow rebound, resulting in a mixed market closing. The Dow Industrial Average ended up 14.21 at 9882.17, while the NASDAQ fell 25.76 to 2116.09. Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 3.54 at 1063.41. In the bond market, the 10-year note rose 28/32 to 101 14/32, putting the yield at 3.45 percent.
Most active New York exchange issue Citigroup (C) showing no change on the day.
Bank of America (BAC) a nickel gainer.
General Electric (GE) $0.08 loss.
Pfizer (PFE) down -- up $0.14.
Sprint Nextel (S) down $0.03, fifth in volume.
Ford Motor Co (F) was off $0.14.
And then Las Vegas Sands (LVS) losing $1.75, big percentage drop. The gaming group down sharply today on persistent weakness of business in Las Vegas and Macau.
Boyd Gaming (BYD) down $1.90, caught in the downdraft of the group, but also reported sharply lower third quarter earnings of $0.09, down from $0.16.
MGM Mirage (MGM) down $1.37.
And Wynn Resorts (WYNN) off $6.94. It reported third quarter earnings of $0.33, down 33 percent from last year, although that was better than expected.
Back to the active list, Motorola (MOT) off $0.14.
Wells Fargo (WFC) a $0.06 drop.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) moved up $0.08.
IBM (IBM) a $0.54 gain. It was as high as $122.14 today after the board approved an additional $5 billion stock buyback. The company also declared its regular $0.55 per share quarterly cash dividend.
US Steel (S) down $3.17. Third quarter loss of $2.11 reported today. That's down from earnings of about $7.79 last year. Revenues plummeted 61 percent and the company says it's also going to have a fourth quarter loss. But Standard & Poor's interesting upgraded the stock from "sell" to "buy."
Another weak steel, AK Steel Holdings (AKS) down $1.61. Third quarter earnings of $0.06, down from $1.67 a year ago. Revenues tumbled 52 percent.
Textron (TXT) up $1.31. It had $0.01 in third quarter earnings, down from $0.83 last year, but the Street was looking for a loss of about $0.03 a share.
Celanese (CE) up $2.23. Third quarter earnings $0.58, $0.20 behind last year but that was $0.15 better than what Wall Street was expecting.
Crane Co (CR) did well, up $4.11. Third quarter earnings, $0.60, same as last year in the third quarter, but $0.12 above the Wall Street estimate.
Carters (CRI) plunging $6.78. The kids apparel company is going to delay its third quarter earnings report which was scheduled for today because it said it needs to complete an accounting review. It will report by November 12th.
Sonic Automotive (SAH) down $2.12. Third quarter earnings $0.22 versus a loss of $0.38 last year, but $0.02 below the Street estimate, no room for disappointment in this market.
Apple (AAPL) topped the active list on NASDAQ, down $5.11.
And then a major loser, Baidu (BIDU) tumbling $49.31. The company reported third quarter earnings up 42 percent to $2.07, but the fourth quarter company revenue guidance of $180 million at best, well below the Wall Street estimate of $205 million, so the stock really got hit.
Amazon.com (AMZN) down $2.57.
Microsoft (MSFT) $0.09 loss there.
And Google (GOOG) down $5.92.
And in other trading, Apollo Group (APOL) a $0.23 gain on the close. The for-profit education provider who is the parent of University of Phoenix, tumbled all the way down to $60 a share in after hours trading. First it reported fourth quarter earnings of $0.59, down from $1.43 a year ago and then what really hurt the stock, the SEC has launched an informal inquiry over the company's revenue recognition practices.
And now the other actives, there we see Intel (INTC) a $0.09 loss.
Research in Motion (RIMM) down $1.93.
Cisco Systems (CSCO) a $0.16 loss.
Wynn Resorts (WYNN), I told you about their lower earnings earlier, down $6.94.
And Oracle (ORCL) with a $0.12 loss.
And those are the stocks in the news tonight.
