Another Good IPO–This One Popped 30%!

  • December 16, 2004
  • Brice Wightman

Stocks are mixed as investors weigh economic news.

Jobless claims for the week ended 12/11 fell -43,000 to 317,000, the largest
decline in claims since December 2001. The 4-week MA fell 4500 to 337,750.
Housing starts fell -13.1% in November, the sharpest drop in 11 years.

Goldman Sachs
(
GS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.06 but investment banking revenue was
lower than expected.

Symantec
(
SYMC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is buying Veritas
(
VRTS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) for $13.5
billion, an all-stock deal that values VRTS at $30.78/share.

Fedex
(
FDX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by 0.02 but beat on revenues.

Advance America
(AEA) priced its IPO at $15, at the high end of the range. The company is the
largest provider of payday cash advance loans in the US. The stock is trading at
19.52, up 30%.

Remember: options and futures expire on tomorrow.

Strong sectors are:  Pharmaceuticals
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.72%,
Healthcare
(
HCX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.15%, Consumer
(
CMR.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.44%

Weak sectors are: Healthcare Providers
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.50%, Internet
(
GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.32%, Oil
(
XOI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.09%.

Dow +28.83 10,720.28
S&P 500 -0.08 1,205.64
Nasdaq -0.89 2,161.66

The dollar is +0.65 at
82.28

Crude Oil is -0.84 at
43.85

Gold is -5.00 to 437

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 948 million on the NYSE and
1.3 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is mixed.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1253 Up Vol 475
Declining 1918 Down Vol 399
Ratio 1.53 1.99
Nasdaq
Advancing 1304 Up Vol 660
Declining 1703 Down Vol 566
Ratio 1.30 1.16

Stocks in the News

Sepracor
(
SEPR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) received FDA approval on Lunestra insomnia
treatment.

The SEC told Fannie Mae
(
FNM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) to restate earnings.

Amgen
(
AMGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)said its Kepivance was approved by the FDA.

Bed Bath & Beyond
(
BBY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said Q3 earnings rose 21%.

Teradyne
(
TER |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was downgraded at Credit Suisse to underperform.

Taser
(
TASR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was mentioned favorably in Investor’s Business Daily

Brice Wightman