24/7 Wall St. » PNY

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (BHP, MCP, CCL, SHLD, PKD, DLPH, PNY, RDI, ACAT, DCTH, END, LEDS)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:07:01 +0000

Stocks open slightly higher this morning, but quickly reversed course to begin falling in less than five minutes of trading. The DJIA hit a morning low just before noon and has bounced around off that ever since. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 have followed the same pattern. Italy’s successful auction of short-term debt was quickly followed by a drop in the euro to below $1.30, where the single currency has remained throughout the day. Commodity prices have been generally lower today, although wheat, corn, and coffee have posted gains. Crude oil prices have fallen following a statement by Saudi Arabia that other countries would pick up any shortfall in crude deliveries caused by possible Iranian action in the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude is down -1.85% at $107.42/barrel and WTI is down the same amount at $99.49/barrel. Gold is down sharply, nearly -2.5%, at $1,556.40/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down nearly 140 points to 12,151.64 (-1.14%), the NASDAQ fell more than 35 points (-1.34%) to 2,589.98, and the S&P 500 fell -1.25% or nearly 16 points to 1,249.66.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including BHP Billiton plc (NYSE: BHP) cut from ‘neutral’ to ‘underperform’ at Zack’s Investment Research; Molycorp Inc. (NYSE: MCP) target price and estimate lowered to $39 at JPMorgan; Carnival Corp. (NYSE: CCL) maintained as ‘hold’ but estimates cut at Argus; Sears Holding Corp. (NASDAQ: SHLD) maintained as ‘underperform’ and target price lowered to $20 at Credit Suisse; Parker Drilling Co. (NYSE: PKD) named ‘value stock of the day’ at Zack’s; and Delphi Automotive (NASDAQ: DLPH) started as ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs.

There are no earnings reports of note out yet today. After markets close today Piedmont Natural Gas Co. (NYSE: PNY) and Reading International Inc. (NASDAQ: RDI) are scheduled to report earnings.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Arctic Cat Inc. (NASDAQ: ACAT) is up more than 20% at $22.80, after posting a new 52-week high of $24 earlier today. The recreational vehicle maker announced that it had repurchased a 33% stake in the company owned by Suzuki, reducing outstanding shares by about a third.

Delcath Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: DCTH) is up nearly 11% at $3.38. The drug development company has received EU standards certification for its plant in Galway, Ireland.

Endeavor International Corp. (NYSE: END) is up nearly 11% to $8.78. The independent oil & gas company continues to receive attention for its purchase of North Sea assets from ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) and an ratings upgrade from ‘market perform’ to ‘outperform’ at Rodman & Renshaw.

Molycorp shares are down nearly -14% at $24.12 after posting a new 52-week low of $24.03 earlier today. The rare earths miner was downgraded this morning and a Chinese announcement on exports of rare earth minerals are both weighing on the company. More on Molycorp here.

SemiLEDS Corp. (NASDAQ: LEDS) is up more than 18% at $3.81. The LED lighting maker hit a technical target at around $3.29/share. Trading in SemiLEDS shares is about 6x average daily volume.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Here are the noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Initial unemployment benefits claims
9:45 a.m. – Chicago PMI report
10:00 a.m. – National Association of Realtors pending home sales index
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas status report
11:00 a.m. – EIA weekly petroleum status report
4:30 p.m. – Federal Reserve balance sheet and money supply reports

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: ACAT, BHP, CCL, DCTH, DLPH, END, LEDS, MCP, PKD, PNY, RDI, SHLD

Top Analyst Upgrades (AA, WTR, BEC, CWT, CHRT, CHA, GAS, NOK, PNY, WW)

247wallst — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 11:23:31 +0000

These are the top upgrades and positive research calls we have seen from Wall Street analysts so far early this Thursday morning:

Alcoa (AA) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Aqua America (WTR) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Beckman Coulter (BEC) Raised to Overweight at Barclays.
California Water (CWT) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Chartered Semiconductor (CHRT) Raised to Neutral at HSBC.
China Telecom (CHA) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Nicor (GAS) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Nokia (NOK) Raised to Outperform at Credit Suisse.
Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) Raised to Outperform at Baird.
Watson Wyatt Worldwide (WW) Started as Buy at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.

-JON C. OGG

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AA, BEC, CHA, CHRT, CWT, gas, NOK, PNY, WTR, WW

Colder Weather Warms Gas Company’s Results (PNY)

247wallst — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:28:15 +0000

Piedmont Natural Gas Company (NYSE:PNY) this morning reported results for its 2008 fiscal year, which ended on October 31st. The company reported EPS of $1.49 on earnings of $110 million, compared with EPS in 2007 of $1.40 and profits of $104.4 million.

The company sold more natural gas because 2008 was colder than 2007, and it also benefited from regulatory adjustments. Its customer base grew 2%, and coupled with the weather and the regulatory changes, margins increased by 5% in 2008. The company also cut operating expenses primarily through adjustments to its defined benefit pension plan.

Piedmont reaffirmed its 2009 EPS guidance of $1.55-$1.65. The company’s stock is off about 1% this morning, and it’s trading about 12% off its 52-week high.

Paul Ausick

Posted in Oil & Gas Tagged: PNY

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (KELYA, KLAC, LRCX, MRVL, PNY, RHI, SNDA, XLNX)

247wallst — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:26:09 +0000

These are the top downgrades and negative analyst calls we are seeing this Thursday morning:

Kelly Services (KELYA) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
KLA-Tencor (KLAC) Cut to Equal-weight at Morgan Stanley.
Lam Research (LRCX) Cut to Underweight at Morgan Stanley.
Marvell Technology (MRVL) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Piedmont Natural Gas (PNY) Cut to Neutral at Baird.
Robert Half (RHI) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Shanda Interactive (SNDA) has seen estimate and targets cut by Citigroup, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs.
Xilinx (XLNX) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.

Jon C. Ogg
September 4, 2008