Making Sense Of Microsoft
After an
early selloff, stocks rallied to close green Thursday.
 With 181 of the S&P 500 companies reporting,
70% have beat analysts’ forecasts, 45% have matched and 24% have missed. Initial
claims dropped 11,000 to 339,000 with the index of leading indicators also
dropping 0.2%.
Adolph Coors
(
RKY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Molson of Canada agreed to merge in a $6
billion deal to become the world’s fifth-largest brewer by volume. Molson
shareholders would control 55% of the new company and is expected to produce
$175 million in annual savings by 2007.
UPS
(
UPS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported a strong
quarter with income up at $818 million and revenue at $8.87 billion. The company
saw growth in its global small package segment and internal exports segments.
UPS upped FY04 earnings, saying they would be 20% higher from a year ago.
McDonalds
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings of $591 million with revenue up 10% to
$4.7 billion. Same-store US sales were up 9.2%. The company also said it would
invest $1.5 billion in 2004 and cut its debt by $600 million.
Microsoft
(
MSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported EPS of 28 cents, missing by a penny, with revenue $9.29 billion, up 15%
for Q4 and up 40% from a year ago; the net was The stock traded down after
hours. Amgen
(
AMGN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported Q2 of $0.62, beating by 0.03; revenue
was $2.68 billion; EPS increased 27%. Amazon.com
(
AMZN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
$0.18, missing by a penny, on revenues of $76.5 million; sales were up 26%.
NBTY Inc
(
NBTY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by 0.11; McKesson
(
MCK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.07.
Xilinx
(
XLNX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was in-line but light on revenues. Coca-Cola
(
KO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported $0.65, beating by 0.02; net income was $1.6 billion, 16% higher than a
year ago. Micromuse
(
MUSE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by 0.02 and announced a 2 million
share buyback.
| Dow | +4.20 | 10050.04 |
| S&P 500 | -3.04 | 1096 |
| Nasdaq | +14.69 | 1889.06 |
Strong today were: Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +3.09%, BiotechsÂ
(
BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.36%, Telecoms
(
XTC.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.42%, and Drugs
(
DRG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.18%.
Weak today were: Healthcare
(
UTY.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.64%, Insurance
(
IUX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -0.62%.
Economic news releases today
include initial claims that fell to 339,000 and leading indicators index that
was 0.2% lower.
10-year Notes were +050
at 110 160
The dollar
was -0.13 at 88.40
Gold was -2.10 at
394.60.
Crude Oil was +0.82 at
41.36
Volume was 1.68 billion
on the NYSE, and 1.94 billion on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was mostly
negative.
| NYSE | Issues | |
| Advancing | 1295 | Up Vol 750 |
| Declining | 1978 | Down Vol 919 |
| Ratio | 1.52 | 1.22 |
| Nasdaq |
||
| Advancing | 1335 | Up Vol 1278 |
| Declining | 1805 | Down Vol 604 |
| Ratio | 1.35 | 2.11 |
Stocks in the news:
eBay
(
EBAY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings of
$190.4 million, which was ahead of analysts’ consensus. eBay also upped FY04
outlook, expecting revenue to reach $3.185 billion.
Caterpillar
(
CAT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) fell 5%
after reporting $522 million with sales up at $7.56 billion. Higher costs for
steel and operating costs cut into its profit margin. CAT raised FY04 growth
outlook to 80% with sales growth up 25%.
Countrywide Financial
(
CFC |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted income of $700
million and raised its 2004 guidance to $8.00 a share.
Washington Mutual
(
WM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was lower after missing
earnings expectations. It reported earnings of 55 cents a share as its
home-loans business slumped. Total loan volume was down 35%.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com