This Stock Is Up 2% On News Of A $5 Billion Stock Buy-Back

  • April 26, 2005
  • Brice Wightman

Stocks are lower on mixed earnings results and
economic data.

Consumer Confidence for April was 97.7 vs 103.3 in March. New home sales for
April came in at 1.431 million units, rising 12.2%. The forecast was for a
decline.

US Steel
(
X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) blew away estimates, reporting 2.85 after special
gains. Before gains, the company reported 3.48 vs. 0.47 last year.

Dupont
(
DD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by 0.05; Q1 profits rose, however, at 0.96 vs
0.66 a year ago.

Genentech
(
DNA |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said its breast cancer drug Herceptin had positive
results.

American International Group
(
AIG |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) said it uncovered more than $1
billion more in accounting problems.

Coach
(
COH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by a penny and raised its earnings forecast.

IBM announced a $5 billion stock buyback–the largest in the company’s
history. The company also increased its dividend from 0.18 to 0.20.

Strong sectors are:   Biotech
(
$BTK.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +1.46%  Homebuilders
(
$HGX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
+1.28%   Semis
(
$SOX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) +0.82%

Weak sectors are:  Computer Hardware
(
$HWI.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-2.22%   Internet
(
$GIN.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) -1.12%   Oil Services
(
$OSX.X |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating)
-0.82%

Dow  -12.86 10,229.61
Nasdaq -2.00 1948.78
S&P 500 -0.58 1161.52

The dollar is +0.23 at
84.05

Crude Oil is -0.92 at
53.65

Gold is +1.40 at 435.60

ce=”Arial” size=”2″ face=”Arial”>Volume is 918 million on the NYSE and
832 million on the Nasdaq.

Market breadth is negative.

NYSE Issues
Advancing 1370 Up Vol 406
Declining 1754 Down Vol 447
1.28 1.10
Nasdaq
Advancing 1209 Up Vol 428
Declining 1656 Down Vol 368
1.36 1.16

Stocks in the News

Boyd Gaming
(
BYD |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.12.

Chubb
(
CB |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.28.

Lexmark
(
LXK |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by 0.04.

Chicago Mercantile Exchange
(
CME |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat profits rose 50%.

Southern Company
(
SO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02

Lockheed Martin
(
LMT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat and boosted guidance.

Sara Lee
(
SLE |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) missed by a penny, reporting sharply lower
earnings.

Zimmer Holdings
(
ZMH |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.08

Hilton
(
HLT |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat estimates and boosted guidance.

Altera
(
ALTR |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) beat by 0.02.

Martha Stewart Living
(
MSO |
Quote |
Chart |
News |
PowerRating) lost 0.38/share. worse than expected.

Brice Wightman