HP Up 2% After Hours, Here’s Why.
Stocks ended mixed on
this trading day. Â Mixed economic data as well as Fed Chairman
Greenspan’s speech sent the Dow and Nasdaq slightly lower while the S&P ended
flat. The Dow Jones Industrial Average did manage to reclaim the psychological
10,800 mark after dipping below it earlier in the session.
Before the Senate Banking Committee, Chairman
Greenspan said “the economy seems to have entered 2005 expanding at a reasonably
good pace, with inflation and inflation expectation well anchored.”Â
However the Chairman hinted of future rate hikes as the current fed funds rate
is still “fairly low”.
Industrial Production for January came in flat
versus an expected rise of 0.3%. Capacity Utilization came in at 79% or
slightly below consensus of 79.3%. Housing starts in January jumped by
4.7% to a record 2.159 million pace. This was well above consensus
estimates of a 1.925 million rate and represents the highest level of
construction in 21-years. Building permits also came in above consensus at
an annual pace of 2.105 million. Despite this, homebuilders are only managing a
gain of 0.29% as represented by the HGX.
After the bell, shares of Dow component Hewlett
Packard are up two percent. The company reported first quarter earnings
excluding items of 37 cents per share. Analysts were expecting 34 cents a
shares. Looking ahead, HP sees second quarter earnings between 35 and 37 cents a
share. Revenues are expected between $21.2 to $21.6 billion. This is above
current estimates of 36 cents a share and sales of $21.1 billion.
Strong sectors are: Energy
(
$DXE.X |
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PowerRating) +2.45%Â
Oil
(
$XOI.X |
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PowerRating) +2.25%Â Healthcare
(
$HMO.X |
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PowerRating) +0.58%
Weak sectors are:Â Airlines
(
$XAL.X |
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PowerRating) -1.15%Â Â Computer
Hardware
(
$HWI.X |
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PowerRating) -0.82%Â Â Â Internets Â
(
$INX.X |
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PowerRating) -0.76%Â
| Dow | 10,834.88 | |
| S&P 500 | 1210.34 | |
| Nasdaq | 2087.43 |
The dollar was +0.12 at
83.72
Crude Oil was +0.15 at
48.48
Gold was -0.40 to 424.80
1.84 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was flat.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1672 | Up Vol 725 |
| Declining | 1600 | Down Vol 715 |
| 1.04 | 1.01 | |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1580 | Up Vol 777 |
| Declining | 1555 | Down Vol 1045 |
| 1.01 | 1.34 |
Stocks in the News
Applied Materials
(
AMAT |
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PowerRating) reported
earnings of 17 cents a share, 1 cent better than expectations.
Network Appliance
(
NTAP |
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PowerRating) gave disappointing guidance for the current
quarter.
Audible Inc
(
ADBL |
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PowerRating)Â announced strong earnings, but revenue was
only $10 million.
Abercrombie & Fitch
(
ANF |
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PowerRating) reported earnings $0.02 ahead of estimates.
Nordstrom
(
JWN |
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PowerRating) reported earnings 1 cent better than expected.
Â
Â
Brice Wightman