MARKET TALK: Loews Looking At $25-$28/Shr For Carolina
14 Jan 09:58
Edited by Thomas Granahan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
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9:57 (Dow Jones) Loews (LTR) expects the initial public offering price for
the Carolina Group tracking stock to be between $25 and $28 a share. Based on a
proposed maximum offering price of $28 a share, the company said it expects to
raise $1 billion from the offering. The Carolina Group will initially consist
of Loews' ownership interest in Lorillard Inc., together with the notional,
intergroup debt and certain other liabilities. (DH)
9:49 (Dow Jones) Willamette (WLL) investors who have their dander up over
Willamette's inclination to get into a business combination with
Georgia-Pacific (GP) at the expense of Weyerhaeuser's (WY) $55-a-share takeover
offer will see their blood pressures rise further upon reading of Deutsche
Banc's latest research note. Analyst Mark Wilde says news of an agreement
between Willamette and Georgia-Pacific appears likely over the next several
days -despite the Willamette's shareholders lawsuits. A price tag of $3B-$3.5B
could make a Georgia-Pacific deal significantly accretive to Willamette, opined
Wilde, but the analyst, like others, worries about GP's asbestos issues.
Willamette off 2.4% at $45.14. (CCW)
9:41 (Dow Jones) Insider stock sales have always been a sensitive subject for
publicly traded companies, but a glitch with the mail has made the subject
twice as sensitive for some companies. Mail delays in Washington, D.C., started
by the anthrax scare of last fall are creating the false impression that some
insiders are selling twice as many shares as they actually are. Company
insiders who sell stock are obliged to file two types of forms with the SEC -
Form 144 makes the shares available for sale, and Form 4 reports the actual
sale of the shares. The SEC retroactively had been stamping its forms to show
the mail delay, but recently started stamping the forms "received" to indicate
when the forms were actually received. Now those forms are marked "U.S. Post
Office Delayed." (TC)
9:35 (Dow Jones) A strong diagnostics industry outlook has led SG Cowen
analyst Scott Wilkin to raise his rating on Beckman Coulter (BEC) to strong buy
from buy. He expects Beckman management to back the high end of 2002 sales
growth of 6%-8%. The stock's never been a barn burner and has usually traded at
a discount to its peers because of a relatively slow growth rate. "We note that
much has changed over the last several years, and based on an analysis of
valuation metrics vs. comparable companies, we believe BEC shares are
undervalued at the current trading range," Wilkin says. (RJH)
9:29 (Dow Jones) Goldman Sachs raises its price target on Sears (S) to $58
from $50, but downgrades the stock to market outperform from the recommended
list because the new target reflects only 13% stock price appreciation. "Sears
remains a dominant hardlines franchise with a solid credit portfolio and
compelling cost savings opportunities still ahead; to achieve further multiple
expansion, we believe Sears needs to demonstrate top-line growth." The firm
sees earnings growth more from cost cuts than from "a sustained softlines
rejuvenation." (GS)
9:19 (Dow Jones) Feb., March, and May fed funds contracts are trading in fast
market, with market still fine tuning rate-cut expectations. At 98.425, Feb.
contract is showing 70% likelihood of 25 BP rate easing at January FOMC,
Merrill Lynch strategist says. Odds are up from about 60% at Friday's close.
(SPC)
9:09 (Dow Jones) Rep. Dingell, commenting on the Enron (ENE) matter this
morning on CBS TV's 'Early Show', says, "There's pretty strong evidence of
insider trading." He also said, "I would suspect it'll be at least a year
before the initial work is done by the Department of Justice and the SEC."
(JCC)
9:03 (Dow Jones) "We'll be watching numbers this week - the focus is on the
health of the U.S. economy," said Ruesch's Alex Beuzelin. EUR/USD is $0.8925,
USD/JPY is Y131.75, EUR/JPY is Y117.59. (JRH)
8:59 (Dow Jones) This is a good time to take profits in eBay (EBAY), Lehman's
Holly Becker says. She thinks the company will report another strong quarter
Tuesday, but that this and more are already reflected in the company's $63.87
stock price. She views "this recent run as a good opportunity to take profits
in this richly valued name." Becker adds that 2002 "is stacking up to be a
challenging year" because revenue and earnings expectations are already high.
(GS)
8:50 (Dow Jones) Some blue light special. Kmart (KM) will no longer take back
any merchandise without a receipt. This change began Sunday, and may anger
loyal shoppers in a big way. Last Thursday, the store said it was in talks with
bank lenders, and Friday, received a Moody's downgrade. (DR)
8:42 (Dow Jones) Merrill's Rich Bernstein cuts stock allocation to 50% from
60%, bumping up bonds to 30% from 20% and leaving cash at 20%. Equity
valuations now seem extreme, he says, noting that P/E-to-growth rate of the S&P
500 is now higher than during 1987. He does believe higher-quality stocks have
the potential to provide attractive absolute and relative returns. (TG)
8:34 (Dow Jones) The near-term outlook for the wireless services sector
appears challenging, say Lehman and Wachovia Securities, which downgrade
numerous companies in that sector. Wachovia says a "cloud of uncertainty"
overhangs wireless stocks in the near term, while Lehman cites weaker near-term
subscriber growth and continued economic weakness. Lehman downgraded most
stocks to buy but cut Nextel (NXTL) to sell from market perform. (GS)
8:30 (Dow Jones) Wall Street will only get a small taste Monday of what's
coming over the next couple of weeks, when E*Trade (ET) reports later, but the
next dozen sessions or so will clearly focus on corporate profits and what they
may look like in the near future. The week also brings some big economic
readings, though Monday's action is for the most part limited to Fed speeches.
After Friday's appearance from Greenspan, the market pretty much knows one more
cut is coming, anyway. UBS cuts Dow Chemical (DOW), Fannie Mae (FNM) tops
views. Stocks currently looking soft. (TG)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 01-14-02
09:58 AM |
