24/7 Wall St. » SCG

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AEO, RAM, TSRX, WAG, SCG, BASI, CAMP, RAM, NOA, FAC, PHH, MJN, SFLY)

Paul Ausick — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 21:04:41 +0000

Today’s opening on equity markets lifted stocks slightly on mixed economic news. New home and durable goods sales rose more than expected, but personal income and spending didn’t meet expectations, with income growth at just 0.1% in November compared growth of 0.4% in October. The Santa Claus rally continued all day on very light volume. WTI crude oil is up about 0.3% at $99.83/barrel and Brent crude is up just 0.06% at $107.96. Gold continues to fall, down to $1,607.10, a drop of -0.22%.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up about 125 points to 12,294.68 (1.03%), the NASDAQ rose more than 19 points (0.74%) to 2,618.64, and the S&P 500 rose 0.9% or more than 11 points to 1,265.31.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including American Eagle Outfitters Inc. (NYSE: AEO) cut from ‘buy’ to ‘hold’ at Standpoint Research; RAM Energy Resources Inc. (NYSE: RAM) raised from ‘market perform’ to ‘outperform’ at Rodman; Trius Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRX) started as ‘outperform’ at Robert W. Baird; Walgreen Co. (NYSE: WAG) maintained as ‘hold’ with a lowered price target of $36 at Jefferies; and Scana Corp. (NYSE: SCG) maintained as ‘buy’ with raised price target of $43 at Wunderlich.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Bioanalytical Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: BASI) is up more than 15% at $1.60 and CalAmp Corp. (NASDAQ: CAMP) is down more than -19% at $4.13. All told a light day for earnings reports.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

RAM Energy Resources Inc. (NASDAQ: RAM) is up nearly 21% at $2.43. The independent oil & gas company continues its run from yesterday, when if finished up more than 70% on news of re-listing on Nasdaq and a $550 million private equity investment.

North American Energy Partners Inc. (NYSE: NOA) is up more than 33% at $6.98. The oil field services company will resume its contract with Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. (NYSE: CNQ) pending a final contract signing.

First Acceptance Corp. (NYSE: FAC) is up nearly 33% at $1.36. A director of the insurance company bought 200,000 shares on Wednesday.

PHH Corp. (NYSE: PHH) is down more than -5% at $10.53. The mortgage servicer’s credit ratings were cut yesterday at S&P and the fallout continues.

Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. (NYSE: MJN) is down about -5.5% at $64.97. The food processing company had its Enfamil infant formula recalled at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) yesterday, and Walgreen’s, Safeway, Kroger, and Supervalu stores followed today.

Shutterfly Inc. (NASDAQ: SFLY) is down nearly -5% at $23.89. The Internet photo site cut its fourth-quarter guidance this morning.

Markets are closed Monday, December 26. Stay tuned for Tuesday. Here are the noteworthy events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

9:00 a.m. – S&P Case-Shiller housing price index
10:00 a.m. – Conference Board consumer sentiment index
10:00 a.m. – State Street investor confidence index

Have a Merry Christmas Day and great weekend.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AEO, BASI, CAMP, FAC, MJN, NOA, PHH, RAM, SCG, SFLY, TSRX, WAG

A Massive Expansion Of Nuclear Projects?

247wallst — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 18:44:34 +0000

Fresh support among Republican senators for a massive expansion of nuclear projects is unlikely as proposed, but it’s an indication of the concessions needed for Democrats to pass their energy reform bill.

That could be a boon for companies including NRG Energy Inc. (NYSE: NRG), Scana Corp. (NYSE: SCG) and Southern Co. (NYSE: SO), all of which are working on next-generation nuclear reactors they hope to start building by as soon as 2011.

They are likely to become the next trendy energy plays, now that T. Boone Pickens’ idea for the world’s largest wind farm has blown over.

Just days after Democrats passed the Waxman-Harkey climate change bill in the House, the Republicans are voicing support for a radically different proposal that would double the nation’s nuclear capacity.

U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, said Monday he supports construction of 100 new nuclear power plants in 20 years, bumping nuclear to 40 percent of U.S. electricity production. He says it would be the basis of a cheap, clean energy policy that would create more jobs than the Waxman-Harkey bill.

It remains to be seen if the U.S. can really afford 100 nuke plants. It seems unlikely, given the threat posed by 44 percent debt to GDP, and the ongoing budget struggles to maintain basic infrastructure such as roads and bridges.

But in one form or another, energy reform will need more support to gain passage. There will be no Republican support for issues like greenhouse gas emission allowances if the Democrats don’t step up their nuclear support.

Building 100 plants seems like a pipe dream, but even if it’s 10, that represents potential billions for companies like NRG, Scana and Southern.

Mike Tarsala.

Posted in Alternative Energy, Green Biz Tagged: NRG, SCG, SO

Analyst Looks More Positive on Utilities (AEP, DUK, EXC, PCG, PEG, UTL, XEL, ED, FPL, PNW, PGN, SCG, SO, IDU)

247wallst — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 12:39:07 +0000

Oppenheimer is making a new call in the utility sector. It looks a bit mixed between positive and somewhat cautious calls this morning, but it is important to note that many of these utilities are still in the lower half of the trading range of their last 52-weeks and some are significantly off of highs.

The new OUTPERFORM rated stocks are American Electric Power Co., Inc. (NYSE: AEP), Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK), Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG), Public Service Enterprise Group Inc. (NYSE: PEG), UNITIL Corporation (NYSE: UTL), Xcel Energy Inc. (NYSE: XEL).

The new more cautious PERFORM rated stocks are Consolidated Edison Inc. (NYSE: ED), FPL Group Inc. (NYSE: FPL), Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW), Progress Energy Inc. (NYSE: PGN), SCANA Corp. (NYSE: SCG), and Southern Company (NYSE: SO).

There are others that may not be included in the list today, but this is a brief summary from early this morning. To show how the lot of utilities has performed, we looked at the iShares Dow Jones US Utilities (NYSE: IDU) ETF that tracks the sector. It closed at $67.25 yesterday, and its 52-week range is $53.15 to $100.98.

While the number of houses being foreclosed or are vacant has stayed high, that should start to abate over the next six months. And if the economy’s green shoots start to turn into some small visible growth toward the end of the year or into next year, then the power consumption from major corporate and industrial clients should start to pick back up as well.

Many of these utilities have also underperformed in the ‘defensive stocks’ category. This recession led to enough home foreclosures and power reduction from the industrial and manufacturing sector that it took out at least some of the stability or safe harbor characteristics of the past. It looks like Oppenheimer expects this to improve at least some from here on out.

Jon C. Ogg

Posted in Analyst Calls, Utilities Tagged: AEP, DUK, ED, EXC, FPL, IDU, PCG, PEG, PGN, PNW, SCG, SO, UTL, XEL

New Nukes for Florida (PGN, SGR, SCG)

247wallst — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 09:10:10 +0000

Westinghouse Electric, a subsidiary of Japan’s Toshiba Corporation, has signed an engineering, procurement, and construction contract with the Florida subsidiary of Progress Energy, Inc. (NYSE:PGN) to build two new nuclear power plants in Florida. The Shaw Group, Inc. (NYSE:SGR) will partner with Westinghouse on the contract.

Earlier in 2008, Westinghouse signed a contract for four more nuclearplants, two for Georgia Power and two for SCANA Corporation (NYSE:SCG)in South Carolina. These are the first contracts for nuclear plantconstruction in the US since 1978.

The plants are still a long way from being started. The long regulatoryreviews and the inevitable public opposition have barely begun. If theplants are online within 10 years, it will be a miracle.

President-elect Obama has signaled that he supports nuclear power under the right circumstances, buthe will undoubtedly be pressured to ensure that stricter regulationsare enacted and enforced, including what to do with spent fuel. Leadinga charm offensive for nukes may prove more difficult than winning thepresidency.

Paul Ausick
January 6, 2009

Posted in Nuclear, Utilities Tagged: PGN, SCG, SGR

SCANA Added to S&P 500, Celebrates by Issuing New Shares (SCG, JPM)

247wallst — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 14:25:46 +0000

SCANA Corporation (NYSE:SCG), a producer and marketer of electricity, will be added to the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index after the market closes on December 31st. To celebrate the occasion, SCANA is offering 2 million new, registered shares. The company plans to use the funds to finance its capital expenditures and for general corporate purposes. Morgan Stanley & Company, a subsidiary of JP Morgan Chase & Company (NYSE:JPM), is the book-runner.

This is a pretty shrewd move. The offering has not been priced yet, but the stock is trading around $35/share with about 117 million shares outstanding. The new offering doesn’t dilute existing shares much, and provides a nice fund to bolster earnings next year by limiting the amount of cash or borrowing the company will have to use to pay for capex.

The state’s energy regulators have tied annual rate increases to improved infrastructure, and SCANA has taken advantage of the ruling. The company benefited from a rate increase in November that sets SCANA’s allowed return at 10.6% for one of its South Carolina operations, and 10.25% for another.

The stock is trading down about 1% this morning, about 20% off its 52-week high. SCANA reiterated its full-year guidance in October, and expects EPS of $2.90-$3.05 per share for 2008.

Paul Ausick

Posted in IPOs Tagged: JPM, SCG

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ADBE, AGU, CMI, INTU, MOS, NST, PENN, CRM, SCG, SGP, SYMC, TEX, XRTX)

247wallst — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 06:38:27 +0000

These are the top analyst downgrade calls we are seeing this Friday morning with two hours to the open:

Adobe Systems (ADBE) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Agrium (AGU) Cut to Hold at Canaccord.
Cummins Inc. (CMI) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Intuit (INTU) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Mosaic (MOS) Cut to Hold at Canaccord.
Nstar (NST) Cut to Neutral at Merrill Lynch.
Penn National Gaming (PENN) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Salesforce.com (CRM) Cut to Sell at UBS.
Scana (SCG) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
Schering-Plough (SGP) Cut to Underperform at Merrill Lynch.
Symantec (SYMC) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Terex Corp. (TEX) Cut to Market Perform at Wachovia.
Trimble Navigation (TRMB) Cut to Perform at Oppenheimer.
Xyratex (XRTX) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.

Jon C. Ogg
October 3, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ADBE, AGU, CMI, CRM, INTU, MOS, NST, PENN, SCG, SGP, SYMC, TEX, XRTX

Top 10 Pre-Market Analyst Calls (ASMI, BWA, CCL, RCL, EMC, SSP, MWA, NSM, NST, SCG, WBMD)

247wallst — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 06:37:31 +0000

These are ten of the analyst calls we are focusing on early this Wednesday morning in pre-market trading:

ASM Intl NV (NASDAQ: ASMI) raised to Buy at Jefferies.
BorgWarner (NYSE: BWA) Raised to Overweight from Equalweight at Lehman.
Carnival (NYSE: CCL) and Royal Caribbean (RCL) were both Downgraded to Hold from Buy at ABN AMRO.
EMC Corp (NYSE: EMC) cut to Neutral at Bernstein.
EW Scripps (NYSE: SSP) raised to Outperform at Bear Stearns.
Mueller Water Products (NYSE: MWA) Raised to Outperform from Neutral at Baird.
National Semi (NYSE: NSM) raised to Buy at Deutsche Bank.
NStar (NYSE: NST) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Scana Corp. (NYSE: SCG) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
WebMD Health (NASDAQ: WBMD) Cut to Sell from Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

Jon C. Ogg
June 18, 2008