Merger Monday: Two Healthcare Giants Getting Together

April 26, 2004
Brice Wightman

In a deal estimated at $4.7
billion, UnitedHealth [UNH|UNH} is purchasing Oxford Health
(
OHP |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating).
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
(
MSO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) and Kmart
(
KMRT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
amended and extended their deal to sell Stewart’s products until 2009.Â

Boeing
(
BA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) gave the final go-ahead to produce its 7E7 jet and announced
that Japan’s All Nippon Airways has placed an order for 50 7E7 jets valued at $6
billion — the single largest order in Boeing’s history. The first flight is
expected to take off in mid-2007.

Google
said that CSFB and Morgan Stanley
(
MWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) have been selected as the
lead underwriter for its multi-billion dollar IPO. Founders Larry Page and
Sergey Brin are said to own about 1/3 of the company; other investors are
venture firms Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Sequoia Capital as well as
Angel Investors L.L.P., an investment group which includes Tiger Woods, Henry
Kissinger, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

After the
close, FindWhat
(
FWHT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.03 and guided Q2 higher; the stock
traded up after-hours. Silicon Labs
(
SLAB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.4 and guided Q2
higher; the stocks traded lower after hours. Chubb
(
CB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.19,
ex-items; Vertex Pharmaceuticals {VRTX|VRTX] reported a narrower than
expected loss at 0.06; Pitney Bowes
(
PBI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02, ex-items;
Tumbleweed
(
TMWD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by a penny and guided lower for Q2; the stock
traded lower after hours. Electronic Data Systems
(
EDS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was in-line
but guided Q2 and Y04 lower.

Immucor’s
(
BLUD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) Galileo received FDA approval; Galileo is a walk-away instrument
used in transfusion labs and donor centers.

Dow	-28.11	10444.73
S&P 500	-5.12	1135.48
Nasdaq	-13.00	2036.77

Economic news releases today: a
big jump in new home sales to 1.228 million.

10-year Notes were +40
at 110 255

The dollar
was -0.51 at 90.85

Gold was unch at 396.00

Crude Oil was -0.06 at
36.91

Volume was 1,284,000,000
on the NYSE, and 1,715,000,000 on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth was mixed.

NYSE	Issues
Advancing	1210	Up Vol 447
Declining	2067	Down Vol 809
Ratio	1.70	1.82
Nasdaq
Advancing	1328	Up Vol 648
Declining	1830	Down Vol 1052
Ratio	1.38	1.64

Stocks in the news:

TXU Corp
(
TXU |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it sold $4.2 billion
of assets in Australia and Texas that is expected to cut is debt by 42%. The
company also plans to use $3.36 billion to pay down debt.

Computer
Associates
(
CA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) named Kenneth Cron as its interim chief executive. The
company is also restating $2.2 billion in revenue that was booked prematurely.
The restatement would have no impact on its current earnings.

Nissan Motor
(
NSANY |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported
earnings that rose by 1.7% to $4.62 billion on strong sales and continued cost
cutting. Global sales volume was up 10% to 3.06 million with a 18% rise for the
US market.

First Horizon Pharmaceutical
(
FHRX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
fell after reporting earnings of $5 billion with revenue up at $32 million. FHRX
is looking to earn 13 cents with revenue of $33 million for the next quarter.

Brice Wightman

bricew@tradingmarkets.com

Merger Monday: Two Healthcare Giants Getting Together

BUY THE FEAR, SELL THE GREED

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