24/7 Wall St.

This was a massive list of lows today.  Not all closed on lows, but the list was chopped down greatly just to accommodate the size of it.  If you look at the list, there are no brokerage firms listed nor anymajor banks.  The major banks weren’t hitting the list but mostbrokerage firms were.  You can thank a firm called Bare Spurns for that. Here goes the eulogy:

• Advance America (NYSE: AEA).. down over 10%, no real news released; financial exposure, although they are probably getting more and more pay day loans now. $6.08 at 3:30, old low $6.08.
• Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU)… down almost 5% at $5.29, although late day got back above that $5.27 year low.
• Borders Group (NYSE: BGP)… down another 6% ahead of earnings next week. The people that still buy books may be headed to the used book stores in tough times.  Maybe even the library.
• Brightpoint (NASDSAQ: CELL)… day in and day out this one has been getting hit.
• Build-a-Bear Workshop (NYSE: BBW)… now it can be even more opportunistic after ending strategic review and adding a larger buyback plan.
• Cenveo (NYSE: CVO)… down 14% after earnings.
• Denny’s (NASDAQ: DENN)… under $3.00 now… stock cheaper than the Grand Slam breakfast?  Maybe people can’t afford $3.00 breakfasts.
• Gannett Co. Inc. (NYSE: GCI)… after earnings people still wary of newspaper operations.
• General Motors (NYSE: GM)… flirting with 5-year lows.
• Infosys Tech (NASDAQ: INFY)… This didn’t close under the old $33.80 low of the year, but was there intraday.  Maybe outsourcing is peaking.
• Intuit (NYSE: INTU)… had no news, that pre-tax season trade getting cheaper and cheaper.
• KLA-Tencor (NASDAQ: KLAC) hit hard again after downgrade already shaved off almost 10% earlier in wee.  Down 4.4% at $36.40 with 15 minutes to close.
• Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT) at $6.34 at 3:45… High is $27.71.  What more can you say? It’s always on the list.
• Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) down over 3.5% at $9.50 with 15 minutes to close. What ever happened to that merger they were supposed to be in?
• Nxstage Medical (NASDAQ: NXTM)… are kidney dialysis treatments economically sensitive?
• PDL Biopharma (NASDAQ: PDLI).. so much for that buyout hope, that’s already been called off.  Almost under a $1 Billion market cap.
• Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)… a true surprise to see this one here again.  Will it bust $20? Shares down 3% at $20.55 with 10 minutes to close.
• Qwest Communications (NYSE: Q)…. now under $5.00.
• Savvis Inc. (NASDAQ: SVVS)… down more than 5% to under the old $15.14 low. Doing IT, bandwidth, storage, network infrastructure, not as great when you have huge exposure to financial institutions.
• Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE)… just when it was getting its act back together… $41.81 right before close; old 52-week low was $42.10.
• Sothebys (NYSE: BID)… down more than half from highs.  Wall Street’s "Even the rich are bitching!" must apply to high-end auctioneers too.
• Time Warner (NYSE: TWX)….. now under $14.00.

Jon C. Ogg
March 14, 2008