Broader Market To Open Lower
Stocks appear set to open lower
Friday after an impressive trading session yesterday.
Lehman Brothers upgraded Computer
Science Corp
(
CSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Market Perform to Buy.
Lear Corp
(
LEA |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a Q4 net
loss of $48.8 million, or 74 cents a share, compared to a profit of $72.4
million, or $1.12 a share, the same quarter last year. The company earned $1.09 a share before one-time
items. According to a survey taken by Thomson Financial/First Call, analysts’
consensus was for the company to earn $1.02 a share.
Manor Care Inc
(
HCR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a
net loss for Q4 of $2.7 million, or 3 cents per share. Excluding charges, the
company earned 32 cents a share, beating analysts’ estimates of 31 cents a share
according to a poll taken by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Omnicell Inc.’s
(
OMCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lock-up period
expires tomorrow.
Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings of 15 cents a share, or $297 million. According to Thomson
Financial/First Call, analysts’ were expecting DIS to earn 10 cents a share with
a range between 7 and 13 cents.
UAL Corp
(
UAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a Q4 net
loss of $308 million. Before extra items, UAL lost $640 million, or $11.74 per
share. Wall Street’s consensus was for the company to lose $14.96 a share within a
range of $12.25 to $18.00.
Abobe Systems
(
ADBE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) has made a
$72 million all-stock offer for Accelio Corp
(
LIO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating), a maker of
business forms. ADBE’s bid comes in higher than Open Text’s
(
OTEX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) by 68%. With
this bid, ADBE is viewed as a “white knight’ in this takeover battle.
Accelio has agreed to be acquired by ADBE.
Chip PAC
(
CHPC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded by
Credit Suisse First Boston from Hold to Buy after the company reported an in-line quarter.
Photon Dynamics
(
PHTN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) priced a
spot secondary of 2.5 million shares at $40.14 a share.
UBS Warburg downgraded Tellium
(
TELM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Buy to Hold.
Biogen
(
BGEN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Genaissance
Pharmaceuticals
(
GNSC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) have come to an agreement where the two will utilize GNSC’s HAP
technology to help identify where the drugs currently being tested at BGEN can
be targeted.
Walt Disney
(
DIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded by
Merrill Lynch from Neutral to Near Term Buy. The firm also gave a price target
of $25.
Bear Stearns upgraded AstaZeneca
(
AZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Neutral to Attractive, citing an improved outlook for the company.
Micron Technology
(
MU |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded
by Morgan Stanley from Neutral to Outperform.
DB Alex Brown upgraded Amgen
(
AMGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Buy to Strong Buy.
Check Point Software
(
CHKP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was
downgraded by Bear Stearns from Attractive to Neutral, saying the targets the
company set at yesterday’s meeting for 2002-2003 are unachievable.