Stronger Opening
Stocks appear set to
open higher
Wednesday as accounting worries and downgrades continue to affect the broader
markets.
Lehman Brothers downgraded AOL Time
Warner
(
AOL |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) from Buy to Market Perform, citing the firm’s lower growth
projections for the AOL division.
Xcel Energy
(
XEL |
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News |
PowerRating) said it will
offer 17.5 million shares in a public offering worth approximately $400 million.
Fairchild Semiconductor International
(
FCS |
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News |
PowerRating) raised its Q1revenue estimates due to increasing order rates.
Tyco International’s
(
TYC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) finance
division, CIT Group Inc., has completed a $1.2 billion financing to repay term
debt.
SPSS Inc
(
SPSS |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted a Q4 net
loss, including charges of $10.6 million a share, or 73 cents, on a diluted basis,
compared with a loss of $3.8 million, or 28 cents a share, for the same
quarter a year ago.
Too Inc
(
TOO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted Q4 earnings
of 77 cents a share on income of $24.8 million, beating consensus estimates of
76 cents a share according to a survey taken by Thomson Financial/First Call.
Merrill Lynch upgraded Circuit City
(
CC |
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Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Buy to Strong Buy and has a price target of $36 for the electronics
retailer.
Banc of America upgraded Oracle Corp
(
ORCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Market Perform to Buy citing that an improvement in the economy could
increase growth.
The CPI and CPI Core rate rose 0.2%
for January.
DB Alex Brown downgraded TRW
(
TWR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
from Buy to Market Perform and lowered its price target from $50 to $42. In
addition, Salomon Smith Barney also lowered its rating on the company from Buy to
Neutral.
According to a report in Newsday
in New York, Computer Associates
(
CA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) is under investigation by the FBI for
possible fraudulent accounting practices.