24/7 Wall St. » PCX

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 23, 2012 (FB, PCX, BX, AMAT, DELL, AEO, BIG, HRL, STP, TSL, FRED, HNZ, MMYT, TIF, TD, COST, PETM, STX)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 23 May 2012 20:05:55 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened lower this morning after European leaders disagree on a fiscal response to the continent’s debt crisis(our coverage here). New US home sales were slightly above the consensus estimate, but made little difference in the slide. As the day wore on, more bad news from Europe sent crude oil prices tumbling and the dollar rising in the currency markets (our coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.76% at 82.115. The GSCI commodity index is down fractionally at 628.23, with commodities mostly lower on the stronger dollar. Orange juice, cocoa, and cotton were today’s big losers. WTI crude oil closed down -2.1% at $89.90/barrel, its lowest settlement since October, and Brent crude trades down -2.51% at $105.69/barrel. Natural gas rose just 0.52% today to $2.72/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down -1.8% today, at $1,548.40/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 7 points to 12,496.07 (-0.05%), the NASDAQ rose about 11 points (0.39%) to 2,850.12, and the S&P 500 rose 0.17% or about 2 points to 1,318.85.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) started as ‘buy’ with a target price of $40 at Needham (more coverage here); Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) cut to ‘hold’ at Deutsche Bank; The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) raised ‘buy’ at Sterne Agee; Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) raised to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; and Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) cut to ‘neutral’ at Mizuho and maintained as ‘underperform’ with a $14 target price at Credit Suisse.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Dell is down -16.8% at $12.55 after posting a new 52-week low of $12.31 earlier today (more coverage here); American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) is up 1.4% at $20.07; Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG) is up 4% at $36.20; Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL) is up 1.2% at $29.54; Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is up 1.5% at $2.01 (more coverage here); and Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL) is up 4.9% at $5.59.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to get earnings reports from Fred’s Inc. (NASDAQ: FRED), H.J. Heinz Co. (NYSE: HNZ), MakeMyTrip Ltd. (NASDAQ: MMYT), Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF), The Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD), and Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

PetSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PETM) is up 13.3% at $62.99 after posting a new 52-week high of $63.19 earlier today. The company reported better-than-expected earnings and forecast more good things to come.

Seagate Technology PLC (NASDAQ: STX) is down -2.4% at $25.72. The disk drive maker is buying France-based LaCie SA for $186 million.

Stay tuned for Thursday. New York Fed President William Dudley is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Durable goods orders
8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
11:00 a.m. – Kansas City Fed manufacturing index
1:00 p.m. – 7-year note auction
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEO, AMAT, BIG, BX, COST, DELL, FB, FRED, HNZ, HRL, MMYT, PCX, PETM, STP, STX, TD, TIF, TSL

5 Unusual Against-The-Grain Winners (ALU, GDX, PCX, ROSG, SCHS)

Administrator — Wed, 23 May 2012 19:32:36 +0000

The market was down significantly earlier in the day with a double-digit S&P 500 drop and a triple-digit drop in the DJIA. We wanted to see some unusual gainers on the day, which are not just the largest gainers. These were in shares of Alcatel-Lucent, S.A. (NYSE: ALU), Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX: GDX), Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX), Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ROSG), and School Specialty Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHS) as the most unusual movers today. We have shown each of these with the moves listed in the last hour of trading.

When was the last time anything good happened to Alcatel-Lucent, S.A. (NYSE: ALU)? It has been a while. With a contract win, with the highlights around its patents, and with the highlight around speedier web traffic, this one rose on a down day. In fact, Alcatel-Lucent was up 4.7% a $1.55 on the day with less than an hour until the closing bell.

Gold was down big earlier as investors are liquidating everything for a source of liquidity. So what are gold miners rising handily? Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (AMEX: GDX) is the go-to ETF for gold mining stocks and offers a great basket of the major global gold players. This ETF was up 3.6% at $44.10 against a 52-week range of $39.08 to $66.98. We just highlighted the value and huge upside that the components offer here.

Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) is in trouble and its viability is in question, Still, yesterday’s news of working with Blackstone trumped a credit rating downgrade today. The coal player was up 21% at $2.65 on more than 19 million shares as of the end of the day.

Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ROSG) has continued its post-reverse-split surge and this is up almost 400% from the start of last week. This is continued buying pressure after Medicare coverage came out. Even a small capital raise has been ignored. Shares are up another 37% at $10.23 and the post-split adjusted 52-week range is $1.40 to $36.45.

School Specialty Inc. (NASDAQ: SCHS) is surging simply on a debt refinancing. That is not your usual rally tool, but the move here is massive. Shares were up 23% at $3.00 in the last hour of trading and the 52-week range is $2.15 to $15.84.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Cult Stock, Trading Alert Tagged: ALU, GDX, PCX, ROSG, SCHS

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMAT, ARBA, BX, CPLA, CHA, DELL, DNDN, EMC, FB, GMT, ICE, JAZZ, NDAQ, PCX, PG, SBUX, WY)

Administrator — Wed, 23 May 2012 12:22:37 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Wednesday.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Ariba Inc. (NASDAQ: ARBA) Cut to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

The Blackstone Group LP (NYSE: BX) Raised to Buy at Stern Agee.

Capella Education Co. (NASDAQ: CPLA) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

China Telecom (NYSE: CHA) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Cut to Neutral at Mizuho; Maintained Underperform and target cut to $14 at Credit Suisse.

Dendreon Corporation (NASDAQ: DNDN) Started as Underperform at Jefferies; Maintained Hold with $11 target at Canaccord Genuity.

EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Buy with $36 target at Argus.

Facebook, Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) Started as Buy with $40 target at Needham.

GATX Corporation (NYSE: GMT) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

IntercontinentalExchange, Inc. (NYSE: ICE) Raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.

Jazz Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: JAZZ) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

NASDAQ OMX Group (NASDAQ: NDAQ) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Patriot Coal (NYSE: PCX) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.

Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG) Reiterated Buy with $70 target at Argus.

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ: SBUX) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.

Weyerhaeuser Co. (NYSE: WY) Started as Buy at Goldman Sachs.

If you enjoyed the top analyst upgrades and downgrades, you can join our free email newsletter that includes analyst summaries each morning sent right to your inbox. We also cover top issues such as IPOs, special financial exclusives, mergers and more. Sign up in the box below.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMAT, ARBA, BX, CHA, CPLA, DELL, DNDN, EMC, FB, GMT, ICE, JAZZ, NDAQ, PCX, PG, SBUX, WY

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 22, 2012 (GPS, DRYS, DPZ, LYB, TSLA, AZO, BBY, RL, WSM, EXPR, AEO, BIG, HRL, NTAP, P, STP, TSL, PCX, BNHN, FB)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 22 May 2012 20:06:11 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened slightly higher this morning following their European and Asian counterparts, none of which were the least concerned about a downgrade to Japanese debt or dire predictions from the OECD and the IMF (our coverage here and here). Existing US home sales were slightly above the consensus estimate, which also helped buoy stocks this morning (our coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.52% at 81.509. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 633.25, with commodities mostly lower on the stronger dollar. Corn and cotton were today’s big losers. WTI crude oil closed down -1% at $91.66/barrel, and Brent crude trades down -0.62% at $108.13/barrel. Natural gas rose more than 3% today at $2.69/thousand cubic feet. Gold settled down -0.8% today, at $1,576.60/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down about 2 points to 12,502.66 (-0.01%), the NASDAQ fell about 8 points (-.029%) to 2,839.08, and the S&P 500 rose 0.05% or less than 1 point to 1,316.63.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Gap Inc. (NYSE: GPS) raised to ‘buy’ at Lazard Capital; DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) started as ‘buy’ at Global Hunter; Domino’s Pizza Inc. (NYSE: DPZ) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a target price of $46 at Argus; LyondellBasell Industries (NYSE: LYB) started as ‘outperform’ with a target price of $60 at Credit Suisse; and Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA) started as ‘buy’ at Maxim Group.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Autozone Inc. (NYSE: AZO) is down -1.67% at $362.40; Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is up 1.3% at $18.41 (more coverage here); Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) is up 3.4% at $151.24 (more coverage here); Williams Sonoma Inc. (NYSE: WSM) is up 3.4% at $35.90; and Express Inc. (NYSE: EXPR) is down -26.9% at $16.88.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to get earnings reports from American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO), Big Lots Inc. (NYSE: BIG), Hormel Foods Corp. (NYSE: HRL), NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP), Pandora Media Inc. (NYSE: P), Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP), and Trina Solar Ltd. (NYSE: TSL).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is down nearly -40% at $2.22 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.36 earlier today. The coal miner was reported to be interviewing firms to help with a restructuring. Patriot issued a non-denial denial later to stem the bleeding. More coverage here and here.

Benihana Inc. (NASDAQ: BNHN) is up 21.3% at $16.13. The restaurateur is being acquired for $296 million.

Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) is down -8.6%% at $31.12 after posting a new low of $30.98 earlier today. Shares are getting pummeled again today. We’ve started a deathwatch here and here. Just search for ‘facebook deathwatch’ to get the latest dope.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. Minneapolis Fed President Naryana Kocherlakota is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
10:00 a.m. – New home sales
10:00 a.m. – FHFA house price index
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
1:00 p.m. – 5-year note auction

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEO, AZO, BBY, BIG, BNHN, DPZ, DRYS, EXPR, FB, GPS, HRL, LYB, NTAP, P, PCX, RL, STP, TSL, TSLA, WSM

Patriot Coal Tries to Stop the Bleeding

Paul Ausick — Tue, 22 May 2012 18:50:14 +0000

Here’s what Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) had to say this afternoon about the $625 million term loan it couldn’t close last week:

Earlier this month,Patriot Coal Corporation (PCX) announced that it entered into a commitment letter for a new revolving credit facility and new term loan facility for a total of $625 million from Citigroup Global Markets, Inc., Barclays Bank PLC and Natixis, New York Branch. Patriot Coal Corporation is continuing to work with these lenders to strengthen its finances, including the replacement of its current credit facilities well before certain of its debt obligations become due in March 2013. Patriot Coal Corporation has engaged The Blackstone Group and continues to work with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, its long-standing counsel, to achieve an optimal financing package.

We wrote earlier about a report that the company was seeking restructuring help. This release from Patriot Coal doesn’t deny that, rather choosing to answer a question that wasn’t asked. As for the $625 million in financing, the statement says nothing new about that either. The company announced that on May 8th when it released earnings. But is the commitment letter signed, sealed, and delivered? Doesn’t sound like it.

Patriot Coal shares hit a new 52-week low of $1.36, down -58% for recovering to -30% at $2.36 as this is written.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Commodities, Metals Tagged: PCX

Patriot Coal’s Starts Bloodbath for Coal Miners (PCX, BTU, ACI, CNX, ANR, JRCC, WLT, CLD, KOL)

Paul Ausick — Tue, 22 May 2012 17:24:47 +0000

Shares of Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) are in freefall this afternoon on a report from Debtwire that the company is seeking a firm to help with its restructuring. The Debtwire report cited at ZeroHedge includes this statement:

Patriot Coal on Friday fielded informal pitches from restructuring advisors, said three sources familiar with the matter. The distressed coal miner aims to retain the professionals in the even[t] the company can’t satisfy its near-term financing needs.

The company failed to syndicate a $625 million bond offering last week after announcing that it lost a key customer. The situation is getting desperate and a bankruptcy filing is a real possibility at this point.

Other coal miners shares are also getting hit hard: Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU), which spun-off Patriot in 2007, is down -5%, Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is down -10%, Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) is down -3.8%, Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) is down -5.5%, James River Coal Co. (NASDAQ: JRCC) is down -8.4%, Walter Energy Inc. (NYSE: WLT) is down -5.6%, Cloud Peak Energy Inc. (NYSE: CLD) is down -2.8%, and the Market Vectors Coal ETF (AMEX: KOL) is down -2.2%.

The weakness in domestic coal demand has absolutely clubbed the coal miners in the last year or so. Rising natural gas prices have led to some happy talk about coal, but there is nothing but bad news on the horizon for the industry.

Shares of Patriot Coal are down about -45% at $1.84 after posting a new 52-week low of $1.67 earlier today. Peabody also posted a new low of $23.30, as did Arch Coal at $6.84, James River at $3.12, Walter Energy at $48.35, and the Market Vectors ETF at $26.05. And except for Cloud Peak, the others came within pennies of posting new lows.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Commodities, Metals Tagged: ACI, ANR, BTU, CLD, CNX, JRCC, KOL, PCX, WLT

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 16, 2012

Paul Ausick — Wed, 16 May 2012 20:05:52 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened higher this morning as investors appeared to be reacting to a temporarily stronger euro, which indicated some confidence in the Eurozone generally. But the dollar regained its lost ground by mid-morning and looks to be continuing a run of 12 straight stronger showings, something last seen more than a quarter century ago. US housing data was not encouraging either (more coverage here). The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.14% at 81.336. The GSCI commodity index is up fractionally at 636.10, with commodities mostly higher today, defying the stronger dollar. Wheat was today’s big gainer. WTI crude oil closed down -1.2% at $92.81/barrel, it’s lowest close since November, and Brent crude trades down at -1.66% at $109.60/barrel. Gold settled down -1.3% today, at $1,536.60/ounce, the yellow metal’s lowest close since last July.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 33 points to 12,598.63 (-0.26%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 20 points (-0.68%) to 2,874.04, and the S&P 500 fell -0.44% or nearly 6 points to 1,324.81.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) raised to ‘overweight’ at Barclays; Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) cut to ‘market perform’ at FBR; Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) cut to ‘hold’ at Argus; Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) cut to ‘neutral’ at JPMorgan; and SandRidge Energy Inc. (NYSE: SD) raised to ‘hold’ at Canaccord Genuity.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: 8×8 Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT) is down -1.5% at $3.86; Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) is up 4.2% at $15.28; Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) is down -3.1% at $74.23 (more coverage here); Eagle Materials Inc. (NYSE: EXP) is down -5.2% at $33.13; LiveDeal Inc. (NASDAQ: LIVE) is up 5.9% at $6.14; and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT) is up 0.7% at $55.49 (more coverage here).

On Thursday we are scheduled to get earnings from Bon-Ton Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: BONT), Dollar Tree Inc. (NASDAQ: DLTR), E-Commerce China Dangdang Inc. (NASDAQ: DANG), GameStop Corp. (NYSE: GME), Jinkosolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS), Ross Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: ROST), Sears Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD), Teekay Corp. (NYSE: TK), and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. (NYSE: JCP) is down -19.2% at $26.92. The retailer absolutely failed on quarterly results. More coverage here.

Rosetta Genomics Ltd. (NASDAQ: ROSG) is up 263% at $5.88. The medical test making firm will have one of its tests covered by Medicare. There was also a 1-for-15 reverse stock split. More coverage here.

Abercrombie & Fitch Inc. (NYSE: ANF) is down -13.7% at $39.21 after posting a new 52-week low of $38.26 earlier today. The teen retailer badly missed estimates last night.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed manufacturing survey
10:00 a.m. – E-commerce retail sales
10:00 a.m. – Leading indicators
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AET, ANF, BHI, BONT, CHS, CSCO, DANG, DE, DLTR, EGHT, EXP, GME, JCP, JKS, LIVE, PCX, ROSG, ROST, SD, SHLD, TGT, TK, WMT

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades

Administrator — Wed, 16 May 2012 12:26:14 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades and initiations seen in Wall Street research calls this Wednesday.

Aetna Inc. (NYSE: AET) Cut to Hold at Argus.

Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM) Raised to Neutral at Citigroup.

Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.

China Life Insurance (NYSE: LFC) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.

Dunkin’ Brands Group Inc. (NASDAQ: DNKN) Raised to Buy with $38 target at Argus.

Genworth Financial Inc. (NYSE: GNW) maintained Neutral but cut target to $6 from $8 at Credit Suisse.

Hatteras Financial Corporation (NYSE: HTS) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ: LRCX) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.

Patriot Coal Corporation (NYSE: PCX) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.

ReneSola Ltd. (NYSE: SOL) maintained Neutral and cut target to $2.00 at Credit Suisse.

SandRidge Energy, Inc. (NYSE: SD) Raised to Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

Solazyme, Inc. (NASDAQ: SZYM) Started as Outperform at Credit Suisse.

Texas Capital Bancshares (NASDAQ: TCBI) named Bull of the Day at Zacks.

Textainer Group Holdings Limited (NYSE: TGH) named Value stock of the day at Zacks.

Weatherford International Ltd. (NYSE: WFT) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AET, AKAM, BHI, CSCO, DNKN, GNW, HTS, LFC, LRCX, NVLS, PCX, SD, SOL, SZYM, TCBI, TGH, WFT

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell — May 15, 2012

Paul Ausick — Tue, 15 May 2012 20:05:44 +0000

Two of the three major US stock indexes opened higher this morning as investors reacted to the news from Greece that no government could be formed and that a second election will be held next month. The news on German manufacturing was good (more coverage here) and US data was also mostly better, but not enough to deflect a weak opening. Equities moved higher later in the day, but overall the market looks set to close half a point lower than where it opened. The US dollar index rose today, now up 0.75% at 81.211. The GSCI commodity index is down about 1% at 639.40, with commodities mostly higher today, defying the stronger dollar. WTI crude oil closed down -0.8% at $93.98/barrel and Brent crude trades up 0.65% at $112.30/barrel. Gold settled down -0.3% today, at $1,557.10/ounce, the yellow metal’s lowest close of the year to date (more coverage here).

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 63 points to 12,632.08 (-0.50%), the NASDAQ fell nearly 9 points (-0.30%) to 2,893.76, and the S&P 500 fell -0.57% or nearly 8 points to 1,330.66.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) cut to ‘hold’ at Needham; Colgate-Palmolive Co. (NYSE: CL) raised to ‘buy’ at Argus; McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE: MCD) cut to ‘neutral’ at Cowen; and Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX) started as ‘buy’ at Citigroup.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Renren Inc. (NYSE: RENN) is up 5.5% at $5.79; Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is up XX% at $XX; A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is up 4.5% at $40.63; Arctic Cat Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAT) is down -10.6% at $37.84; Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE: DKS) is up 6.8% at $50.45 after posting a new 52-week high of $51.65 earlier today; Saks Inc. (NYSE: SKS) is down -0.5% at $10.00; TJX Companies Inc. (NYSE: TJX) is up 7.1% at $42.50; Valspar Corp. (NYSE: VAL) is down -6.7% at $46.45, and The Home Depot Inc. (NYSE: HD) is down -2.6% at $48.61 (more coverage here).

On Wednesday we are scheduled to get earnings from 8×8 Inc. (NASDAQ: EGHT), Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF), Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS), Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE), Jack in the Box Inc. (NASDAQ: JACK), and Target Corp. (NYSE: TGT).

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Facebook Inc. (soon to be NASDAQ: FB) raised its IPO price range from from $28-$35 to $34-$38. It is possible the world will regain its balance following the company’s IPO, expected for Friday. But maybe not.

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is down -18.8% at $3.92 after posting a new 52-week low of $3.91 earlier today. The coal miner lowered shipment and price expectations this morning. More coverage here.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM) is up 1.7% at $36.39. CEO Jamie Dimon dodged a bullet at today’s shareholder meeting and kept both his jobs.

Stay tuned for Wednesday. St. Louis Fed President James Bullard is giving a speech. We have also noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

7:00 a.m. – Mortgage Bankers Association purchase applications
8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
2:00 p.m. – FOMC minutes released

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: A, ACAT, AMAT, AMZN, ANF, AONE, CHS, CL, DE, DKS, EGHT, FB, JACK, JPM, MCD, PCX, PSX, RENN, SKS, TGT, TJX, VAL

Patriot Coal Leads the Way to New Lows

Paul Ausick — Tue, 15 May 2012 17:28:26 +0000

Today’s not a good day to be in the coal business. Miner Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) announced this morning that it was lowering both shipment and price forecasts for metallurgical coal for this year and next based on “recent developments involving the potential default by a key customer.” The company did not identify the customer.

Patriot dropped its price estimate by $25-$20/ton and estimated shipments of 3.9 million of currently priced tons in the remainder of 2012 and just 200,000 currently priced tons in 2013. Pricing on the 2013 shipments is just $122/ton, compared with $145/ton for the rest of 2012.

Shipments of thermal coal used to generate electricity have been hurting coal share prices for nearly a year now as natural gas prices remain very low. But met coal, which is used in steel-making, has fared a little better and met coal producers have had some backstop for the downturn in thermal coal sales. But not after today.

Patriot is dragging the entire coal mining sector down with it. Peabody Energy Corp. (NYSE: BTU) is off -4.4%, Consol Energy Corp. (NYSE: CNX) is off -4.1%, Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is off -4.6%; Alpha Natural Resources Inc. (NYSE: ANR) is off -8.8%, Walter Energy Corp. (NYSE: WLT) is off -6%, James River Coal Corp. (NASDAQ: JRCC) is off -4.3%, and Cloud Peak Energy Corp. (NYSE: CLD) is off -3.2%. And the more met coal a company mines, the worse the story. That’s why Alpha and Walter are down so much further than the others.

Peabody has posted a new 52-week low this morning of $26.72. James River also struck a new annual low of $3.58, and Alpha posted a new low of $11.95.

Patriot, of course, has done even worse. Shares are down -15.4% at $4.09, and the stock’s new 52-week low is $4.08. The prior range was $4.82-$24.99.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: Commodities, HI/LOW, Metals Tagged: ACI, ANR, BTU, CLD, CNX, JRCC, PCX, WLT