IPO Action!
Stocks were
slightly higher Tuesday, with strength in brokers and tech outweighing interest
rate and Mid-East worries.. Morgan
Stanley’s
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) quarterly profit more than doubled, with net income at
$1.22 billion and revenue up 32% at $6.7 billion. Revenue from its M&A unit rose
130% to $324 million with strong numbers also from its investment banking and
fixed income and equities divisions. Goldman Sachs
(
GS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted
earnings of $695 million with revenue up 28% to $7.68 billion with revenue from
investment banking up 67%. Its fixed come and commodities unit showed a 15%
increase in revenue from a year earlier to $1.89 billion, with equities trading
revenue down 21% at $351 million from a year ago.
General Mills
(
GIS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
will raise prices on several items, including soups, snack foods, and yogurt.
Morgan Stanley reaffirmed its 6.2% increase
target for the S&P 500 and does not expect major movements in the bond market.
QLogic
(
QLGC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was upgraded by Merrill Lynch to “Buy” on valuation,
with a price target of $34.
A New York Federal Reserve Bank study
said there is no evidence of a housing bubble.
A federal judge said a discrimination suit
brought by some female Wal-Mart employees may have class-action status,
creating the largest civil rights class action ever certified against a private
company.
In IPO action, Jackson Hewitt
(
JTX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) debuted and closed 1.5% higher;
Momenta Pharm
(
MNTA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) rose +20% and Senomyx
(
SNMX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) closed
at 6.75, up 0.50. SalesForce.com boosted its IPO price to between $9 and
$10 from $7.50 – $8.50. After two delays, the 10 million share offering is
expected to trade tomorrow with the symbol CRM.
3Com
(
COMS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â lost less
money in the 4th quarter, reporting (0.04); consensus was (0.10).
| Dow | +23.60 | 10395.07 |
| S&P 500 | +4.11 | 1134.41 |
| Nasdaq | +19.77 | 1994.15 |
Strong today were Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +5.23%, Tech
(
TXX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.97%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.97%, Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.58%.
Weak today were Retail
(
RLX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating),
-1.38%, Healthcare
(
HMO.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)Â -0.99%
10-year Notes were -30
at 108 145
The dollar
was +0.14 at 89.42
Gold was +0.40 at 394.60
Crude Oil was +0.43 at
38.20
Volume was 1.38 billion
on the NYSE, and 1.63 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was positive.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1696 | Up Vol 769 |
| Declining | 1570 | Down Vol 507 |
| Ratio | 1.08 | 1.51 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1767 | Up Vol 1081 |
| Declining | 1364 | Down Vol 472 |
| Ratio | 1.29 | 2.29 |
Stocks in the news:
PalmOne
(
PLMO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
turned a profit of $13.3 million on revenue of $267.3 million, both numbers way
ahead of analyst consensus. The company upped full year forecasts to $1.20 a
share on revenue of $1.25 billion. PLMO closed up 37% at 29.40.
Kroger
(
KR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that
fell to $262.8 million due to a labor dispute . Same-store food sales rose by
1.3% since January.
Nextel Partners
(
NXTP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
raised its 2004 outlook and expects EBITDA to reach $340 million.
Target
(
TGT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was lower after
reporting same-store sales will be at the low end of previous forecasts of a
5-7% gain.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com