MARKET TALK: Stale Two Days Ago, Panera Fresh Once More
07 Feb 16:12
Edited by Thomas Granahan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
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4:10 (Dow Jones) Reversing course on Panera Bread (PNRA) in just two days,
Morgan Keegan restaurant analyst Robert Derrington admits he'd never changed
ratings on a stock so quickly. But after the shares fell more than 15%,
apparently largely in reaction to his downgrade to market perform on Tuesday,
Derrington went back to an outperform rating Thursday on a company he calls
among the best in the business. "Given the fundamentals, I felt it appropriate
to move back up," he said. Shares off 4.5% at $57.65. (RLG)
4:04 (Dow Jones) OK, so it's a forgettable week. Stocks sold off one more
time late, erasing what was a pretty decent rally, in blue chips at least.
Cisco doesn't go over well, and the technicals keep pointing to more weakness.
Have to go back to Nov. 5 for close below 1800 on Nasdaq. DJIA drops 29 to
9624, Nasdaq Comp off 31 to 1782, and S&P 500 eases 3 to 1080 (preliminary).
(TG)
3:43 (Dow Jones) Morgan Stanley analyst Alice Schroeder says "accounting
risk" is an issue for insurers. Products and practices that were once
acceptable may now be deemed improper, she says. Overall, nonlife insurers may
suffer more from image issues than from financial meltdowns, and most companies
will prove to be fundamentally intact. It may take a strong stomach, but she
says a buy on weakness strategy makes sense. (TG)
3:27 (Dow Jones) Sen. McCain, saying Amtrak is no better off today despite
having received over $5 billion in federal assistance since 1998, said he's
working on a bill "to provide a restructured, revitalized, and streamlined rail
passenger network." (JCC)
3:14 (Dow Jones) The $5.1 billion contraction of consumer credit in December
followed an extraordinary upward-revised $20.1 billion expansion in November.
Boththe November expansion and the December contraction were likely related to
swings in auto sales in the two months. (JM)
2:59 (Dow Jones) If you can't figure out why the big network airlines are
doing so well in the stock market today, consider this: By Wednesday, the tiny
Frontier Airlines (FRNT) was sporting a larger market cap than that of UAL
Corp. (UAL), which owns the world's second-largest carrier. Analysts say major
carriers may be oversold because of the huge losses suffered last year,
still-weak traffic and revenue and a labor unrest at UAL's United. At the same
time, investors have snapped up regional carriers since 9/11 on a bet that
they'll benefit from the flight capacity cutbacks at the majors. UAL is up
3.5%, while US Airways (U), another financially-troubled major, is 11% ahead.
Frontier is off 2.2%. (SON)
2:44 (Dow Jones) It seems the late-day selling may want to get underway.
Perhaps stocks can hold on? Major averages are well off their highs, and the
mild weakness in techs continues. That said, wireless is on top, followed by
broadcasting, entertainment and diversified industrial names. Disney,
Honeywell, SBC, and JP Morgan on top of DJIA, which is up 31 at 9684. Nasdaq
off 7 to 1805, and S&P 500 adds 3 to 1086. (TG)
2:33 (Dow Jones) It's not too often that the head of a company's IR
department is the focus of Wall Street research. But ABN-Amro, in brief note,
says AOL's appointment of John Martin as VP of investor relations is a positive
for company, given his strong industry background and extensive relationships
at the company, where he previously spent 7 years. ABN-Amro sees Martin as a
highly capable exec who will "be a key ingredient in restoring investor
confidence." AOL up 6% at $25.70. (TG)
2:14 (Dow Jones) Reverse mergers - where a private company is acquired by a
public company in a move to get a stock listing - has nearly doubled over the
past three years, says Makeez Malikzay of Thomson Financial. Such takeover
activitybetween 1999 and 2001 increased to 541 deals worth a total value of
$95 billion, up from 287 deals worth a total of $52 billion between 1996 and
1998. And, although overall merger volume fell by half in 2001, reverse mergers
posted volume of $77 billion, seven times that of 2000. Most of that volume,
however, is due to Comcast's (CMSCK) $72 billion reverse takeover of AT&T's (T)
cable business. But even the $5 billion remaining still outpaces the past six
years. (JAW)
2:02 (Dow Jones) Amid all of the January same-store sales numbers reported by
retailers Thursday, one was conspicuously absent: Kmart's (KM). Having filed
for bankruptcy last month, the beleaguered retailer will start filing monthly
operating statements to the court "around the end of March," spokesman Jack
Ferry says. The company is scheduled to file its 10-K within 90 days of the end
of its fiscal year, which was Jan. 30, "unless there is a delay caused by
bankruptcy proceedings," Ferry says. Shares up 4.3% at 98c. (JMC)
1:47 (Dow Jones) One of Louise Yamada's biggest technical concerns at the
moment is the 'AAA' corporate/Treasury yield spread (the widening gap shows a
belief on the part of investors that debt risk is growing, hence a flight to
the safety of U.S. Treasurys.) Salomon research shows an uptrend in the yield
spread has only taken place during structural bear market environments:
1966-76, 1927-32, and 1938-41. In other words, the uptrending spread is not a
characteristic of a structural bull market. And for those who point to the
shrinking supply of the long bond, she notes the trend has not remained static
since the government took that action but has extended in time and degree. (TG)
1:28 (Dow Jones) The dollar's average monthly trade weighted value rose 1.2%
in January from December, the Atlanta Fed said Thursday. Analysts say it
probably won't be any lower in Feb. (JRH)
1:14 (Dow Jones) Lehman says wholesale inventories probably fell 0.7% in
December, their seventh consecutive monthly retrenchment. Lehman expects the
depletion to set up the need for companies to rebuild their inventories in
2002, adding 3.0 percentage points of GDP growth in 1Q. Numbers due out Friday.
(MCG)
12:59 (Dow Jones) Following Household's (HI) investor call earlier,
independent research firm CreditSights.com says both the stock and bonds are a
buy. It's been beaten down by short-sellers in the wake of Tyco (TYC) woes but
doesn't merit the recent liquidity scare. HI up 7.5% at $48.04. (CSE)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 02-07-02
04:12 PM |
