24/7 Wall St. » WGO

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (CSCO, FSLR, SI, BRCM, AFFY, DFS, FDX, PIR, SCHL, WGO, SONO, NVLS, GEVO, ZOLL, BPAX, PEIX)

Paul Ausick — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:05:03 +0000

US markets opened fast this morning, up nearly 1% in the first hour of trading before giving most of the gain back by mid-morning and then wandering around a gain of less than 0.5% for the rest of the day. Better manufacturing data from Europe, and solid manufacturing gains in the US helped the market in the early going. The US dollar was down against the euro, the yen, and the British pound. Crude oil prices fell today, with WTI down more than -1.5% at $93.44/barrel and Brent down about -0.9% at $103.33. Gold continued its slide as well today, down more than -1% at $1,568.80/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA up nearly 47 points to 11,869.95 (0.39%), the NASDAQ rose nearly 2 points (0.07%) to 2,541.01, and the S&P 500 rose 0.33% or about 4 points to 1,215.83.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Cisco Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) started as ‘buy’ at Nomura. Other ratings actions today include First Solar Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) cut from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’ at R.W. Baird; Siemens AG (NYSE: SI) cut from ‘buy’ to ‘neutral’ at Goldman Sachs; Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM) raised to ‘outperform’ at Wells Fargo; and Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ: AFFY) raised from ‘neutral’ to ‘buy’ at Goldman Sachs.

Here are today’s post-earnings news reactions with prices during the last half-hour of trading: Discover Financial Services (NYSE: DFS) is down -3.2% at $23.06; FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) is up almost 8% at $83.45; Pier 1 Imports, Inc. (NYSE: PIR) is up 0.23% at $13.17; Scholastic Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHL) is up more than 4% at $26.73; and Winnebago Industries, Inc. (NYSE: WGO) is down -0.15% at $6.80.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

SonoSite Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO) is up more than 27% at $53.68, a new 52-week high. The ultrasound device maker has been acquired by Japan’s Fujifilm Holdings Inc. for $54/share, or about $995 million. Our coverage is here.

Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) is up more than 17% at $40.68, after posting a new 52-week high of $42.50 earlier today. The semiconductor equipment maker is being acquired by Lam Research Corp. (NASDAQ: LRCX) for $3.3 billion in an all-stock deal. More coverage here.

Gevo Inc. (NASDAQ: GEVO) is up more than 13.5% at $6.41. The biofuel and chemical company signed an agreement with The Coca-Cola Co. (NYSE: KO) to develop a new bio-derived plastic bottle.

Zoll Medical Corp. (NASDAQ: ZOLL) is up more than 29% at $60.47, after posting a new 52-week high earlier today of $63.86. The medical device maker’s wearable defibrillator has been re-affirmed for Medicare coverage.

BioSante Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: BPAX) is down more than -77% at $0.48, after posting a new 52-week low of $0.46 earlier today. The biopharmaceutical company reported that its experimental drug to enhance libido in post-menopausal women failed a late-stage trial.

Pacific Ethanol Inc. (NASDAQ: PEIX) is down nearly -18% at $0.87. The ethanol maker announced the completion of a sale of about 12.6 million shares and warrants to 11 private investors for just over $8 million in cash.

Stay tuned for Friday. Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans and Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher are speaking tomorrow. Here is another other noteworthy event on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Consumer price index for November released

Paul Ausick

Filed under: HI/LOW, Market Close Tagged: AFFY, BPAX, BRCM, CSCO, DFS, FDX, FSLR, GEVO, NVLS, PEIX, PIR, SCHL, SI, SONO, WGO, ZOLL

Nine Stocks Loving the Oil & Commodity Crash (AMR, CCL, EK, FDX, SIX, TIF, UAL, LCC, WGO)

Administrator — Thu, 05 May 2011 19:44:36 +0000

If you still believe that speculators cannot really drive markets up too far in any direction, take a look at the commodities market. The continuous raising of margins in silver has taken out all of the gas from the silver market. The rising dollar today is helping. The question now is how many more margin requirements will be hiked in commodity futures. Forget that a moment. If you are an operating company that your greatest variable cost is a commodity or energy, today is a great day. There are some obvious airline winners, but we have highlighted a few other winners who may be rejoicing today’s drop in oil and commodities after the metals sell-off this week.

Oil has fallen under $100 suddenly. Silver has crashed, and gold is selling off. Other commodities remain soft as well. If you are a commodities trader, you have to just assume that higher margin requirements are headed your way whether you think that is fair or not.

AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) is the parent of America Airlines and its shares are screaming today. Shares were up 7% at $6.59 on more than 22 million shares.

Carnival Corporation (NYSE: CCL) may be a floating hotel, but it has significant exposure to high oil prices. You think it is cheap powering portable islands with gas that transport thousands of tourists at a time? Shares are up 5% at $40.82 on the day.

Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) is only up 0.7% because the company is so troubled whether silver prices are high or low. Still, this former DJIA component is up 0.7% at $2.83 when the DJIA is down over 1.25%.

FedEx Corporation (NYSE: FDX) is seeing a gain of almost 3% at $95.37 on almost 3 million shares today. It flies parcels and packages rather than passengers, but the same issue is here as in airlines when it comes to energy prices and jet fuel.

Six Flags Entertainment Corp. (NYSE: SIX) may just be up because it split its stock and raised its dividend, but what about a huge drop in the price of gasoline. It’s about to be cheaper for the family to drive 50 miles to get to the theme park. Telling the kids that you can’t afford the gas just got a bit harder. Six Flags shares are up 1.7% at $73.50 late Thursday.

Tiffany & Co. (NYSE: TIF) is up due to the drop in gold prices. After all, it’s hard to sell jewelry at 100% or more than your peers using poor metals… Shares are up 1.3% at $68.28 on the day. This one held up better than we would have expected considering the cost of its commodity inputs.

United Continental Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: UAL) is up 7.5% at $26.22 on nearly 12 million shares. US Airways Group, Inc. (NYSE: LCC) is up 8% at $10.05 on more than 10 million shares and this is the first time above $10 since mid-February.

Winnebago Industries Inc. (NYSE: WGO) may not be one you would think of at first and it is one of the very economically sensitive companies. If the economy softens, the price of gas won’t matter as much, but if you have to pay close to $5.00 a gallon for a cross-country gas guzzling machine like an RV, any big drop in the price of oil is a welcome wagon for this company. Winnebago shares are up only 0.7% at $11.80 on the day, but volume is thin at 150,000 shares or so.

When it comes to taking the air out of hot commodities, the old saying is that nothing will kill demand like high prices. When silver was approaching $50 and when West Texas Crude was at $110 per barrel, it was a demand killer. Throw in a rising dollar and these commodities just lost one more fundamental support. That was then, this is today.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Commodities, Consumer Goods, Currency, International Markets, Oil & Gas, Transports Tagged: AMR, CCL, EK, FDX, LCC, SIX, TIF, UAL, WGO

Thor’s RV Sales Follow Credit Off The Cliff (THO, WGO)

247wallst — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:30:49 +0000

Thor Industries, Inc. (NYSE: THO) issued its preliminary sales and backlog guidance, and as the company sells RV’s you could have likely guessed that sales were down sharply. Thor said that for the quarter ended October 31, sales were roughly $439.2 million. This is down a sharp 42% from $763.7 million last year, and significantly under estimates.

The company did not give earnings guidance. ThomsonReuters (First Call) has estimates listed as over $484 million inrevenues, and the lowest estimates was just under $420 million.

RV sales were pretty grim. The quarterly sales came in at roughly$331.2 million. This is a drop of more than 50% from the$664.2 million seen last year.

The company better be thankful that it sells buses. It reported thatquarterly bus sales were $108.0 million, a gain of 8.5% from $99.5million reported last year.

One key area to focus on is backlog, as this is used to measurefuture strength or weakness. Thatis not looking good at all.

Thor’s backlog at the end ofthe quarter was $381.2 million, down almost 20% from the $476.1 million backlogat the end the same quarter in 2007. RV backlog was$124.5 million, down a sharp 50% from the $249.7 million last year.Its backlog in buses was up more than 13% from lastyear to $256.6 million.

The company listed its cash and equivalents at roughly $286 million,which the company said will give it "a significant competitiveadvantage in these difficult times." Thor better hoard that cash allit can. It sounds like it is going to need it.

Thor’s shares have already been smacked by Thor’s Hammer. Shares aredown 0.5% at $17.57 today, but the 52-week trading range is $14.68 to$46.00. Its current market cap is $975 million.

Winnebago Industries Inc. (WGO), its key competitor in RV sales, isactually doing far worse in stock performance. Its shares are downless than 1% today at $5.95, but its 52-week trading range is $4.22 to$24.83.

If you have ever wanted to own an RV and flush with cash to go on along driving tour around the USA, the RV dealers right now willprobably cut you the deal of a lifetime.

Jon C. Ogg
November 4, 2008

Posted in Autos, Earnings Warning, Entertainment Tagged: THO, WGO

Early Bird Analyst Downgrades (AAPL, RATE, COP, INFN, MOT, SMOD, TSCM, THO, WM, WGO)

247wallst — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:06:48 +0000

These are not all of the analyst downgrades this Monday morning, but these are some of the standout calls we have seen affecting shares early with more than two hours to the open:

Apple (AAPL) Cut to Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley.
Bankrate (RATE) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
ConocoPhillips (COP) Cut To Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Infinera (INFN) Cut To Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Motorola (MOT) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
Smart Modular Tech (SMOD) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
TheStreet.com (TSCM) Cut to Neutral at Merriman Curhan Ford.
Thor Industries (THO) Cut to Underperform at Baird.
Washington Mutual (WM) Cut to Underperform at KBW.
Winnebago Industries (WGO) Cut to Underperform at Baird.

Jon C. Ogg
September 29, 2008

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, COP, INFN, MOT, RATE, SMOD, THO, TSCM, WGO, WM

52-Week Low Club (WTR, BMY, CELL, DDS, EK, EXPE, GCI, GE, HST, NOK, PFE, Q, VLO, WY, WGO)

247wallst — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:21:00 +0000

If you thought this was a bad day for the market with the DJIA trading well under that 12,000 psychological level, there were some 400 stocks that hit 52-week lows today when you include the closed end funds, preferred stocks, and ETF’s. Today was ugly enough that we won’t even add our little personal prodding on these. Here is just a partial list of fifteen active stocks on this list today that aren’t airlines, autos, or financials:

AQUA AMERICA INC (NYSE: WTR)
BRISTOL MYERS SQUIBB (NYSE: BMY)
BRIGHTPOINT INC (NASDAQ: CELL)
DILLARD’S INC (NYSE: DDS)
EASTMAN KODAK CO (NYSE: EK)
EXPEDIA INC. (NASDAQ: EXPE)
GANNETT CO INC (NYSE: GCI)
GENERAL ELECTRIC CO (NYSE: GE)
HOST HOTELS & RESORT (NYSE: HST)
NOKIA (NYSE: NOK)
PFIZER INC. (NYSE: PFE)
QWEST COMMUNICATIONS (NYSE: Q)
VALERO ENERGY (NYSE: VLO)
WEYERHAEUSER CO (NYSE: WY)
WINNEBAGO IND INC (NYSE: WGO)

Jon C. Ogg
June 21, 2008