After-The-Bell Earnings, Plus, This IPO Is Delayed…Again

May 18, 2004
Brice Wightman

Stocks
rebounded on lighter volume Tuesday. India’s Sonia Gandhi decided to
drop out of the race to become India’s Prime Minister, hoping to end the
controversy over her foreign birth. Asian stocks got a boost after indices
declined as much as 11% on Monday. AT&T
(
T |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced a 5-year deal
with Sprint
(
FON |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), enabling Sprint to sell cell phone services under
its own brand. Agilent
(
A |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a profit of $104 million compared with a loss of $146 a
year-earlier with revenue up 25% to $1.83 billion. For the third-quarter,
earnings are expected to reach 0.25/share on revenue of $1.80 billion.

Richmond Fed President Alfred
Broaddus said the inflation picture had changed significantly, and that he was
“dusting off my old
inflation hawk feathers” but that the
risks were manageable.

Home Depot

(
HD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that rose to $1.1 billion on revenue of
$17.55 billion with same-store sales up 7.7%. The company also raised 2004
earnings forecast with an expected 12% EPS growth rate.Â JC Penny
(
JCP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported earnings of $41 million after charges; sales rose 8.7% to $4.03 billion
with same-store sales up 9.5%. The average person spends $55.11 per trip at Home
Depot, up 7% from a year ago.

The average price for a gallon
of gas is now over $2.00, with California the highest at $2.27. In the Midwest,
the average is $2.00; the Northeast, $2.03, and the Gulf Coast, $1.89. On an
inflation-adjusted basis, 1980 prices were almost double the current level. The
United Arab Emirates said they are ready to boost output in an effort to lower
prices.

Alan Greenspan accepted
Bush’s nomination for a fifth four-year term as Fed chief. Greenspan, 78, has
held the top slot at the Fed since 1987. His current term expires June 20, and
he must be confirmed by the Senate.

The Salesforce.com IPO
has been put on hold — the second time the IPO has been held up.

It a survey, the American Automobile Association (AAA) said that a record number
of Americans will hit the road this summer; 31 million people are expected to
travel by car over the Memorial Day weekend. AAA also said that a recovery in
the travel industry is underway.

Dow	+61.60	9968.51
S&P 500	+7.43	1091.53
Nasdaq	+21.18	1897.82

Economic news releases today:
housing starts that fell below expectations at 1969K, and stronger-than-expected
building permits at 1999K

The dollar
was +0.20 at 91.20

Gold was -2.59 at 375.31

Crude Oil was -1.18 at
40.42

Volume was 1.35 billion
on the NYSE, and 1.42 billion on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was positive.

NYSE	Issues
Advancing	2393	Up Vol 969
Declining	940	Down Vol 293
Ratio	2.54	3.30
Nasdaq
Advancing	2002	Up Vol 1068
Declining	1142	Down Vol 318
Ratio	1.75	3.35

Stocks in the news:

Barnes & Noble
(
BKS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said books
related to politics and war helped it turn a profit of $12.5 million with sales
up at $966 million from $864 million a year ago.

Computer Sciences
(
CSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted
earnings that rose by 17% to $190.6 million, with revenue up 30% to $4.0
billion. It reported a 65% increase in federal government sales and a 13%
increase in global commercial revenue.

Endo Pharmaceuticals
(
ENDP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it
would wait for an appeals court decision in a patent case before launching its
generic version of the OxyContin painkiller.

Millennium Pharmaceuticals
(
MLNM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
rose after reporting positive results of its phase III Velcade chemotherapy
treatment.

Brice Wightman

bricew@tradingmarkets.com

After-The-Bell Earnings, Plus, This IPO Is Delayed…Again

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