Rita Weakens, Stocks Gain
Stocks gained ground Friday as Rita
weakened. Crude oil prices fell below
$65/barrel as the hurricane was downgraded to a Category 3 storm.
Alcoa
(
AA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) guided lower and now sees $0.27 – $0.31 vs. the
consensus $0.44. The stock was downgraded to underperform at Goldman Sachs and
to underweight at Prudential.
Oracle
(
ORCL |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a small increase in profits for Q1; revenue
rose 25% over last year. The stock was downgraded to neutral weight at
Prudential.
3Com
(
COMS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported 0.11, ex-items, and guided higher.
In a report, CSFB estimates that 72% of all production capacity for
ethylene–used in the manufacture of plastics–was located in the potential path
of Rita.
Strong Sectors were:Â Â
AirlinesÂ
(
XAL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +2.08%Â Â Â Â Â Healthcare
(
HMO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.97%Â Â Â Â Â Â NetworkersÂ
(
NWX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.40%Â Â Â Â
Weak sectors were:Â Â
Oil
(
XOI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.76%Â Â Â Â Â Oil Services
(
OSX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.64%Â Â Â Â Â Computer Hardware
(
HWI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.68%Â
|
|
-2.46 | 10,419.59 |
| +6.06 | 2116.84 | |
| +0.67 | 1215.29 |
Stocks in the news:
PalmOne
(
PALM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.04 and guided lower. The stock is trading
lower pre-open..
ElectroScientific
(
ESIO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.04
Starbucks
(
SBUX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) announced an additional 5 million share stock buyback.
Tibco
(
TIBX |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny.
Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) increased the amount of their share repurchase
program, adding 45 million shares. The company also boosted its dividend 20% to
$0.30.
Electroglas
(
EGLS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.13.
Brice Wightman
Â