The Google IPO: Searching For Answers
Stocks closed mixed after news of renewed violence in the Mid-East halted an
early advance. Positive
economic economic news sent the indices up early as
consumer
confidence index rose unexpectedly to 92.9 on optimism of an economic
recovery. This is the first rise in four months.
Explosions ripped through Damascus near the US and
Canadian embassies and fighting started again in Fallujah; US Marines have had
the city surrounded for weeks, and this news sent the indices lower.
United States
Steel
(
X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported its first quarterly profit in five quarters with income
at $58 million, beating estimates by 9 cents with revenue up 55% to $2.97
billion. Continued demand from China and a weak dollar contributed to the
positive numbers.
ImClone
(
IMCL |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
turned a profit of $62.7 million with revenue up 500% to $109.6 million, both
way ahead of analysts’ estimates. IMCL said its Erbitux sales were strong and
that they are awaiting approval from the EU for sale overseas. Verizon
(
VZ |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported earnings of $1.2 billion with revenue at $17.14 from subscriber growth
at its Verizon wireless division. VZ also managed to add 345,000 DSL customer
for a total of 2.7 million subscribers.
So far, more that 3/4 of
companies reporting beat Wall Street forecasts, with only 10% missing.
Janus Capital settled
with the SEC and agreed to pay $100 million in fines and restitution and also
agreed to reduce its fees by $125 over a 5-year period.
Google is expected to
register an IPO this week and analysts are eager to look at the company’s
financials, which Google management has been tight-lipped about. Speculation
among industry observers is that the company’s profit at $150 million to $350
million on sales as high as $1 billion. Secrecy surrounds the private company —
investment bankers were banned from its headquarters last year and analysts
aren’t even sure how many employees the company has.
After the close, Maxim
(
MXIM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
reported Q3 in-line; revenues were $370 vs a $368 estimate. Monster Worldwide
(
MNST |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny and guided Q2 in-line; NetIQ beat by a penny
and beat on revenues; webMethods
(
WEBM |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.04, ex-items and
guided in-line; Quest Software
(
QSFT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny and beat on
revenues; Zoran
(
ZRAN |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny, ex-items; Plantronics
(
PLT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.06 and guided higher; Coherent
(
COHR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by
0.03, ex-items; CSG Systems
(
CSGS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.03 and guided above Q2;
UTStarcom
(
UTSI |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.01; RF Micro Devices
(
RFMD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
was in-line, ex-items and guided lower. Revenues were $163.4 million vs. a
$161.1 million estimate. McDonald’s
(
MCD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) was in-line; revenues were
$4.40 vs. $4.27 billion; net income $511.1 million. The stock traded higher
after hours.
Dow | +33.43 |
10478.16 |
S&P 500 |
+2.62 | 1138.15 |
Nasdaq | -4.24 | 2032.53 |
The day’s leading sectors were
 Energy
(
DXE.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.95%, Homebuilders
(
HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.83%; Oil Index
(
OIX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.32%, Natural Gas
(
XNG.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.53%.
Weak today were Networking
(
NWX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.57%, Semis
(
SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.35%; Gold
(
XAU.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-1.23%, and Hardware
(
HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.24%.
Economic news releases today:Â
Consumer confidence index higher at 92.9.
10-year Notes were +095
at 111 025
The dollar
was -0.15 at 90.37
Gold was +1.39 at 398.21
Crude Oil was +0.56 at
37.53
Volume was
1,517,593,000
on the NYSE, and 1,928,101,000
on the Nasdaq.
Market breadth was mixed.
NYSE | Issues | |
Advancing |
1840 | Up Vol 765 |
Declining | 1462 | Down Vol 729 |
Ratio | 1.25 |
1.04 |
Nasdaq |
||
Advancing |
1574 | Up Vol 623 |
Declining |
1616 | Down Vol 1278 |
Ratio | 1.02 |
2.05 |
Stocks in the news:
Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) reported earnings that rose 16% to $291
million with revenue up 18% to $8.35 billion. The company expects full year
earnings to reach $2.55 a share with revenue at $34 billion.
BJ Services
(
BJS |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said increased
drilling activity boosted its quarterly earnings to $73.3 million with revenue
up 21% to $647.1 million.
Immucor
(
BLUD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
received FDA approval for its blood transfusion system and was up 25% on the
news.
IBM increased its dividend 12.5%.
This is the first increase since 1996.
Transocean
(
RIG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) posted earnings
that fell to $22.7 million but ahead of estimates with revenue up at $652
million.
Brice Wightman
bricew@tradingmarkets.com