24/7 Wall St. » XEC

24/7 Wall St. Closing Bell (DELL, KMB, SWY, RAX, BAC, ANF, CMCSA, XEC, DE, DVN, INCY, NOR, TEVA, ZNGA, BPAX, CSKI, IPSU, ALNY, CYBI)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:07:27 +0000

The three major US stock indexes opened slightly higher this morning, but the DJIA almost immediately turned south and remained in negative territory all session. The Nasdaq composite and S&P 500 turned south in the early afternoon. China’s central bank said that it would continue to buy European sovereign debt and do its part to help the Eurozone recover. But nothing much has happened on the continent today to build up hopes for avoiding a Greek default. The afternoon release of the FOMC minutes cooled markets even more as the minutes showed little enthusiasm for another round of quantitative easing. Crude oil is higher today following Iran’s announcement that it was cutting off supplies to six European countries (see our coverage here). WTI is up 1.05% at $101.80/barrel and Brent is up 1.34% at $118.92. Gold rose 0.6% to settle at $1,728.10/ounce.

The unofficial closing bells put the DJIA down more than 97 points to 12,780.95 (-0.76%), the NASDAQ fell 16 points (-0.55%) to 2,915.83, and the S&P 500 fell -0.54% or more than 7 points to 1,343.23.

There were several analyst upgrades and downgrades today, including Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) cut to ‘underperform’ at Sterne Agee; Kimberley-Clark Corp. (NYSE: KMB) cut to ‘neutral’ at Janney; Safeway Inc. (NYSE: SWY) raised to ‘outperform’ at Credit Suisse; Rackspace Hosting Inc. (NYSE: RAX) cut to ‘market perform’ at Raymond James; and Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) cut to ‘market perform’ at Bernstein.

Earnings reports since markets closed last night have led to some price changes as of the last half hour of trading today: Abercrombie & Fitch Co. (NYSE: ANF) is up 8.2% at $48.25; Comcast Corp. (NASDAQ: CMCSA) is up 4.5% at $28.48 after posting a new 52-week high of $29.05 earlier today; Cimarex Energy Co. (NYSE: XEC) is up nearly 19% at $81.66; Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE) is down -5.4% at $84.21; Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) is up about 7% at $71.64 (more coverage here); Incyte Corp. (NASDAQ: INCY) is down -5.9% at $17.19; Noranda Aluminum Holding Corp. (NYSE: NOR) is down -2% at $10.63; Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: TEVA) is up 3.4% at $45.01; and Zynga Inc. (NASDAQ: ZNGA) is down nearly -15% at $12.21.

Other standouts from today include the following stocks:

Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE: TAN) completed a 1:10 reverse split this morning. We have more coverage here.

BioSante Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: BPAX) is up more than 30% at $0.99. The company’s testosterone replacement drug for men has been approved by the FDA and will be co-marketed with Teva.

China Sky One Medical Inc. (NASDAQ: CSKI) China Sky One is down more than -28% at $1.10. Volume is nearly 10x the daily average of about 285,000 shares traded. The nutritional supplement company’s shares were stopped following an announcement of the resignations of 26 managers and the reported illness of the CEO.

Imperial Sugar Co. (NASDAQ: IPSU) is down nearly -14% at $5.75. Investors are likely taking profits today, following a week-long run-up in the share price.

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ALNY) is up nearly 15% at $12.59. The biopharmaceutical company priced a secondary share offering at $10.75. More coverage here.

Cybex International Inc. (NASDAQ: CYBI) is up more than 19% at $1.81 after posting a new 52-week high of $2.01 earlier this morning. The sporting goods maker posted better-than-expected earnings this morning.

Stay tuned for Thursday. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke is giving a speech. We have noted the following events on the schedule (all times Eastern):

8:30 a.m. – Housing starts
8:30 a.m. – New claims for unemployment benefits
8:30 a.m. – Producer price index
10:00 a.m. – Philadelphia Fed survey
10:30 a.m. – EIA weekly natural gas storage report
1:00 p.m. – 30-year TIPS auction
4:30 p.m. – Fed balance sheet and money supply

Paul Ausick

Filed under: 24/7 Wall St. Wire Tagged: ALNY, ANF, BAC, BPAX, CMCSA, CSKI, CYBI, DE, DELL, DVN, INCY, IPSU, KMB, NOR, RAX, SWY, TEVA, XEC, ZNGA

Top Pre-Market Analyst Downgrades (ABH, BBX, XEC, LGF, HK, VTNC)

Administrator — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:07:59 +0000

These are some of the top pre-market analyst downgrades we have seen this Wednesday morning:

AbitibiBowater (ABH) Cut to Underperform at RBC.
BankAtlantic (BBX) Cut to Underperform at FBR.
Cimarex Energy (XEC) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
Lions Gate (LGF) Cut to Maket Weight at Thomas Weisel.
Petrohawk Energy (HK) Cut to Market Perform at FBR.
Vitran (VTNC) Cut to Hold at Canaccord.

Jon C. Ogg

February 11, 2009

Posted in Analyst Calls Tagged: ABH, BBX, HK, LGF, VTNC, XEC

Cimarex Buys Back Senior Notes, With More Debt (XEC)

247wallst — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:57:04 +0000

Cimarex Energy Company is one of those mid-cap energy stocks that is well-liked by institutional investors. Nearly 90% of the company’s stock is held by institutional investors. In good times, that’s good. In bad times, those investors might need the cash themselves. That appears to be what’s happened today.

Cimarex was forced to offer to redeem $125 million of floating rateconvertible senior notes that were not due until 2023. As of close ofbusiness yesterday, $105.6 million of the notes have been tendered.

The company will borrow the money to pay for the buyback with fundsfrom its bank credit facility. The company has a $1 billion facility ofwhich it has permission to borrow $500 million. Now that figure is $375million or so.

Cimarex shares are up more 2.5% in mid-day trading. The stock is down about 67% from its 52-week high.

Paul Ausick
December 16, 2008

Posted in Oil & Gas Tagged: XEC

Pre-Market Analyst Calls (June 5, 2007)

247wallst — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 06:37:56 +0000

AAP raised to Neutral at JPMorgan.
ALDN cut to Mkt Perform at FBR.
ALY started as Outperform at Wachovia.
BEBE cut to Mkt Perform at FBR.
BEN cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
BHP raised to Buy at Citigroup.
CPO started as Buy at BB&T.
CRZO started as Buy at Sun Trust Robinson Humphrey.
FIF raised to Outperform at Piper Jaffray.
HAS cut to Underweight at JPMorgan.
JNPR cut to Neutral at UBS.
OCNF started as Buy at Cantor Fitzgerald.
OHI started as Neutral at UBS.
OPWV cut to Underweight at JPMorgan; cut to Underperform at CIBC.
ORBC started as Mkt Perform at Piper Jaffray.
REG started as Neutral at Baird.
SFLY started as Strong Buy at JMP Securities.
SWIR raised to Outperform at CIBC.
SLR raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
TELK cut to Mkt Perform at Wachovia.
TRMP cut to Underperform at Bear Stearns.
WRI started as Outperform at Baird.
XEC cut to Neutral at UBS.

Jon C. Ogg
June 5, 2007