24/7 Wall St. » STLY

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (AAPL, ARMH, QCOM, ZNGA, HALO, CWTR, FTK, HOTT, KFY, AONE, ACHN, FSYS, JKS, NAV, NGSX, SFD, SMRT, STP, VRS, STLY, MWA, SSH, ZLTQ)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 21:05:38 +0000

The three major US equities indexes opened higher this morning on the news from Europe that the Greek debt swap deal would be a success. That prediction turned out to be solid, as about 80% of Greek bondholders agreed to the swap, taking pressure of the Greeks at least for the time being. The US new jobless claims number came in a bit higher than expected this morning, but traders hardly noticed. Tomorrow’s non-farm payrolls report is the one everyone’s waiting for, with a consensus estimate of 210,000 new jobs. The dollar opened weaker today, and has continued to trickle down with the dollar index down -0.74% at 79.123. Crude oil was higher today, with WTI crude settling up 0.4% at $106.58/barrel and Brent crude up 1.17% at $125.57/barrel. Gold settled higher by 0.9% at $1,698.70/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up more than 70 points to 12,907.87 (0.55%), the NASDAQ rose more than 34 points (1.18%) to 2,970.42, and the S&P 500 rose 0.98% or more than 13 points to 1,365.91.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) reiterated as ‘buy’ with target price raised from $600 to $660 at Goldman Sachs; ARM Holdings PLC (NASDAQ: ARMH) raised to ‘overweight’ at Morgan Stanley; Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM) reiterated as ‘buy’ with a $72 target price at Argus; Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) started as ‘hold’ at Canaccord Genuity; and Halozyme Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: HALO) started as ‘overweight’ at Barclays.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Coldwater Creek Inc. (NASDAQ: CWTR) is up 0.9% at $1.02; Flotek Industries Inc. (NYSE: FTK) is up 9.7% at $12.11; Hot Topic Inc. (NASDAQ: HOTT) is up 13.4% at $9.97 after posting a new 52-week high of $10.11; Korn/Ferry International (NYSE: KFY) is up 0.3% at $15.33; A123 Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: AONE) is down -2.5% at $1.56; Achillion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ACHN) is up 5.2% at $10.76; Fuel Systems Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ: FSYS) is down -2.2% at $25.74; JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS) is down -6.9% at $5.54 (more coverage here); Navistar International Corp. (NYSE: NAV) is down -2% at $39.25 (more coverage here); NeurogesX Inc. (NASDAQ: NGSX) is down -20% at $0.53 (more coverage here); Smithfield Foods Inc. (NYSE: SFD) is down -2.2% at $22.31 (more coverage here); Stein Mart Inc. (NASDAQ: SMRT) is down -8.6% at $6.38 (more coverage here); and Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) is down -1.4% at $2.89.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Verso Paper Corp. (NYSE: VRS) is up 77% at $2.16. The paper maker will issue new debt of $345 in senior secured notes and has issued a tender offer for $315 million in 11.5% senior unsecured notes outstanding.

Stanley Furniture Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: STLY) is up about 20% at $4.29. The wood furniture maker has announced that it expects to receive a payment of about $40 million as a result of an anti-dumping ruling against Chinese furniture makers.

Mueller Water Products (NYSE: MWA) is up more than 21% at $3.46. The maker of water transmission, distribution, and measurement products is selling its pipe and foundry business for about $100 million in cash and other considerations. More coverage here.

Sunshine Heart Inc. (NASDAQ: SSH) is down more than -8% at $11.00. The medical device maker came public on February 16th, and is nearing the dreaded busted IPO line.

Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc. (NASDAQ: ZLTQ) is down more than -13% at $5.65 after posting a new 52-week low of $5.60 earlier. The medical technology company posted a dismal fourth-quarter earnings report earlier this week and has just set its second record-low of the week as well.

Stay tuned for Friday. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Non-farm employment report
8:30 a.m. – International trade report
10.00 a.m. – Wholesale trade report

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: AAPL, ACHN, AONE, ARMH, CWTR, FSYS, FTK, HALO, HOTT, JKS, KFY, MWA, NAV, NGSX, QCOM, SFD, SMRT, SSH, STLY, STP, VRS, ZLTQ, ZNGA

Mid-day Movers (VRS, STLY, MWA, DNDN, CLVS)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 17:15:04 +0000

Shortly after noon ET today, all three major US stock indexes have posted solid gains, with the DJIA up about 54 points at around12,892, the Nasdaq up about 27 points at 2,963, and the S&P 500 up more than 10 points to around 1,363. This morning’s news from Europe on the Greekl debt swap got markets off on the right foot, and the report on US new unemployment claims was more or less in-line with expectations. The dollar opened weaker today, and has continued to dribble down with the dollar index down -0.67% at 79.181. The weaker dollar and the upbeat news on Greece are pushing up crude prices, with Brent up more than 1.3% and WTI up around 0.7%.

Among the major movers at around noon today are Verso Paper Corp. (NYSE: VRS), Stanley Furniture Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: STLY), Mueller Water Products (NYSE: MWA), Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), and Clovis Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: CLVS).

Verso Paper is up nearly 79% at $2.18. Volume is already more than 6x the daily average of about 86,000 shares traded. The paper maker will issue new debt of $345 in senior secured notes and has issued a tender offer for $315 million in 11.5% senior unsecured notes outstanding.

Stanley Furniture is up about 22% at $4.36. Volume is already more than 4x the daily average of about 38,000 shares traded. The wood furniture maker has announced that it expects to receive a payment of about $40 million as a result of an anti-dumping ruling against Chinese furniture makers.

Mueller Water Products is up about 18% at $3.36. Volume is already nearly 3x the daily average of around 1.15 million shares traded. The maker of water transmission, distribution, and measurement products is selling its pipe and foundry business for about $100 million in cash and other considerations.

Dendreon is down about -10% at $9.74. Volume is already about double the daily average of around 10 million shares traded. The drug maker’s prostate cancer treatment Provenge is being challenged following results of good test results for competing drug from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

Clovis Oncology is down about -11% at $20.47. Volume totals about a third of the daily average of around 82,000 shares traded. The maker of anti-cancer drugs reported poor quarterly earnings after markets closed yesterday.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: CLVS, DNDN, MWA, STLY, VRS

Morning Movers (STLY, IPSU, MWA, DNDN, JKS)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 15:25:15 +0000

The three major US equities indexes opened higher this morning as the news from Europe virtually guarantees a successful debt swap deal for Greece today. The dollar is weakening today, down -0.48% this morning at 79.327. The DJIA is up nearly 44 points at around 12,881, the Nasdaq Composite is up nearly 15 points at around 2,950, and the S&P 500 is up almost 7 points at around 1,359.

There are several stocks trading more heavily than usual this morning, and also experiencing large gains or drops in share prices. These include the Stanley Furniture Co. Inc. (NASDAQ: STLY), Imperial Sugar Co. (NASDAQ: IPSU), Mueller Water Products (NYSE: MWA), Dendreon Corp. (NASDAQ: DNDN), and JinkoSolar Holding Co. Ltd. (NYSE: JKS).

Stanley Furniture is up about 20% at $4.31. Volume is already more than 3x the daily average of about 38,000 shares traded. The wood furniture maker has announced that it expects to receive a payment of about $40 million as a result of an anti-dumping ruling against Chinese furniture makers.

Imperial Sugar is up more than 17% at $6.46. Volume is already nearly 3x the daily average of about 800,000 shares traded. The sugar processing company is selling its 50% interest in Wholesome Sweeteners Inc. for $$55-$60 million in cash.

Mueller Water Products is up more than 19% at $3.40. Volume is already double the daily average of around 1.15 million shares traded. The maker of water transmission, distribution, and measurement products is selling its pipe and foundry business for about $100 million in cash and other considerations.

Dendreon is down about -15% at $9.25. Volume is already about higher than the daily average of around 10 million shares traded. The drug maker’s prostate cancer treatment Provenge is being challenged following results of good test results for competing drug from Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ).

JinkoSolar is down about -7% at $5.55. Volume is already about double the daily average of around 734,000 shares traded. The Chinese solar panel maker reported very poor earnings this morning and its outlook is also weak. Panel maker Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. (NYSE: STP) also reported poor earnings this morning.

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: DNDN, IPSU, JKS, MWA, STLY

La-Z-Boy Clients On Recliners Instead of Shopping (LZB, STLY, ETH)

247wallst — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 13:03:51 +0000

It’s of no surprise when you see a furniture maker or anything at all tied to "in home buying" very weak. But some of these sell-offs go from mild, to bad, to outright atrocious. Enter La-Z-Boy Inc. (NYSE:LZB). La-Z-Boy shares are down another 1% today at $5.40, and the 52-week trading range is $5.46 to $15.20. The maker of the good old recliner isn’t immune from a weak housing and consumer discretionary spending environment. Despite there being a very soft environment, La-Z-Boy’s books are actually in decent shape even after its revenue warning last month. It would seem that this company could easily trim costs to keep the bottom line better.

This was briefly a $30 stock in 2002, and it has again been cut in half since this summer. How far back on the chart do you have to go before you find these recent stock prices? The early 1990′s. Other furniture makers are in the same negative spending environment soup:

Stanley Furniture Co. Inc. (NASDAQ:STLY) shares are $10.92, under its $10.98 to $23.74 range over the last 52-weeks.
Even on a positive day for the stock higher-end furniture maker Ethan Allen (NYSE:ETH) up 2.6% at $29.31 is at the lower-end of its $27.46 to $39.56 trading range over the last 52-weeks.

Jon C. Ogg
December 3, 2007