MARKET TALK: Coke Will Have Smile With Market Share Data
28 Feb 16:27
Edited by Thomas Granahan
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
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4:27 (Dow Jones) Coca-Cola (KO) remained the top soft drink company in 2001
with a 43.7% market share, according to data compiled by Beverage
Digest/Maxwell. Pepsico's (PEP) Pepsi-Cola was next with 31.6% while Cadbury
Schweppes' (CSG) Dr. Pepper/Seven Up hauled in 15.6%. Brand-wise, Coke Classic
took the top spot with 19.9% with Pepsi getting 13.2% and Diet Coke 8.8%. By
volume, Diet Pepsi and Diet Coke made the greatest gains in 2001. Overall,
volume for the U.S. soft drink market increased just 0.6%. (CRW)
4:15 (Dow Jones) Riverstone Networks' (RSTN) declaration of "deteriorating
market conditions" in its 4Q warning (the quarter ending March 2) not only
contributed to the stock's 48% decline but also appeared to have hurt other
networking companies, in particular Redback Networks (RBAK), down 16%, and
Extreme Networks (EXTR), down 17%. (GS)
4:05 (Dow Jones) Thursday's was a session not unlike Wednesday's, just a
little bit weaker. Major averages have trouble holding early rallies, even
though the economic data make it pretty clear things are perking up. Big month
for durable household products, gold, and heavy machinery, real tough going for
Internet services, communications technology, wireless and computers.
Sentiment, personal income/spending and ISM reading close out busy data week
Friday morning. DJIA drops 20 to 10108, up 1.9% for month, Nasdaq Comp off 21
to 1731, and a whopping 10% for month, and S&P 500 eases 3 to 1106, about 2%
for month (preliminary). (TG)
3:46 (Dow Jones) The end of the month brings the usual speculation about how
online trading activity fared. January volumes "showed little change" from
December, says UBS Warburg's Eric Wasserstrom. For February, "our initial
inquiries indicate that volumesremained at the depressed run-rate of late
January." Activity may have spiked up recently, but "this is likely to be
insufficient to improve the average for the month and, as a result, we
anticipate that February volumes will be flat to slightly down from January
levels," the analyst says. (GFC)
3:32 (Dow Jones) Echoing other administration officials, Treasury says it
opposes capping how much employer stock employees can hold in their 401Ks. Such
caps would have "potentially severe disruptive effects on the stock prices of
several major companies," Treasury says in a study. Congress is mulling several
bills that propose different percentage caps on employer stock in
retirement-savings plans. (DAL)
3:17 (Dow Jones) Peter Appert's li'l paperboy is at it again! Appert, the
publishing analyst for Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown, regularly issues a report on
industry trends, which always comes with a cartoon newsboy on the front
delivering a capsule review of the state of the sector. After January, says the
fellow, "Business remains tough, but the stocks are doing great - what gives?"
As Appert explains, newspaper stocks have been lifted by "deregulation mania
and hopes for a near-term recovery." Trouble is, "we see no changes in the
still-anemic newspaper advertising market." Look for another cartoon wisecrack
in another few weeks. (BS)
3:07 (Dow Jones) Goldman Sachs telecom-equipment analyst Brant Thompson is
calling "bull" predictions of a spending recovery in the second half of the
year. "Carrier business models aren't stabilizing, China is weakening, non-U.S.
markets will lag a U.S. recovery and wireless carrier consolidation is another
shoe to drop," he says in initiating coverage of Lucent (LU), Tellabs (TLAB)
and Nortel (NT) - all rated at market performer. Thompson started Sonus (SONS)
at market outperformer. (JDB)
2:58 (Dow Jones) Cigna (CI) said one of its units is being investigated by
the U.S. Department of Justice and the Office of Inspector Generalfor Medicare
cost-reporting practices. The company said the government offices are looking
at cost-reporting practices of the unit from 1990 through 1999, but didn't
identify the unit being investigated. Cigna said it doesn't believe the outcome
of the inquiry will be material to its consolidated results of operations,
liquidity or financial condition. CI off 2.6% at $91.45. (CS)
2:41 (Dow Jones) With the U.S. District Court of Appeals throwing the 35%
broadcast television ownership limit issue back to the FCC for review last
week, Viacom (VIA) would benefit from an easing of those rules. Merrill Lynch
analyst Jessica Reif Cohen says Viacom would probably aggressively buy select
CBS affiliates to gain from duopoly economics. She doesn't see Viacom buying
slower growth publishing assets or a group of non-CBS affiliated stations.
(DDO)
2:29 (Dow Jones) The dollar lost some ground as cable television reports of a
suspicious person aboard an Air India flight to New York. EUR/USD rises to
daily high of $0.8687, and USD/CHF drops to 1.6984 francs. No impact on stocks.
(JEN/TG)
2:18 (Dow Jones) In response to concerns about Treasury price fluctuations in
the minutes preceding the official release time of its business index,
NAPM-Chicago denies that there was any premature release of the data.
Kingsberry, NAPM-Chicago's fax service, reports no early release in it's fax
records. Sharp movements lower in bond prices before that time raised eyebrows
among government bond traders. (SV)
2:03 (Dow Jones) Looks like it might be shaping up as another discouraging
day for the bulls. Blue chips still stronger, though way off highs, and techs
have turned south. Financials are actually trying to lend a hand, but semis and
airlines are not. Data simply point to recovery, but it seems Wall Street is
getting less and less impressed with that notion. Now, more signs of an
earnings recovery would be a different story. DJIA up 40 at 10167, Nasdaq Comp
off 10 at 1742, and S&P500 edges up 3 to 1113. (TG)
1:54 (Dow Jones) Yet another version of economic stimulus legislation is
percolating in the U.S. Congress. House Republicans are looking at writing a
fourth stimulus plan that would extend unemployment benefits, provide federal
healthcare aid and include a bonus depreciation provision for businesses. House
Ways And Means Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., called this "a little stimulus"
and has been discussing the matter with Republican leaders, but it isn't yet
clear if or how lawmakers may proceed. (MHA)
1:43 (Dow Jones) The Nasdaq Comp dropped 71.8% from March 10, 2000, to Sept.
21, 2001, during which time it saw seven rallies of 10% or more, which were
followed by new lows in price, qualifying them as bear-market rallies, notes
SSB's Louise Yamada. There were eight declines following these seven rallies,
ranging from -14% to -42%. The technician's research indicates the character of
the 71% drop has occurred only once in the past 100 years in the stock market.
The Sept. 3, 1929, to July 8, 1932, fall of 89% on the DJIA saw eight
bear-market rallies, followed by nine declines to lower lows. That period was
also similar in its bubble characteristic and in its deflationary environment,
she says. (TG)
1:26 (Dow Jones) With consumer confidence on the mend and favorable skiing
conditions, Vail Resorts (MTN) could finish its fiscal year with skier visits
near last year's levels, said Merrill Lynch analyst Hayle Kissel. The company
says skier visits dropped 6% in the fiscal 2Q. Vail's acquisitions should add
$7M-$9M in Ebitda in fiscal 2002, and lower labor costs - particularly salary
and hiring freezes - will cut out $4M in expenses. MTN up 0.6% at $18.51. (TG)
1:15 (Dow Jones) Fed Gov. Susan Schmidt Bies will deliver her first-ever
speech since joining the Fed at 1:30 p.m. EST Thursday, the Fed announced. This
will be one to watch, especially as it's on a particularly hot topic. The
official title of the speech: "Strengthening the Financial System Through Sound
Accounting And Disclosure." (DAL)
1:09 (Dow Jones) J.P. Morgan says Moody's and S&P's confirmation of Cendant's
(CD) solid investment-grade debt rating supports its view that the stock's
recent "guilt-by-association" selloff was overblown. But "Cendant is still a
high-risk stock in our view, and we expect this will continue to be reflected
in the multiple," says analyst Amanda Tepper, who repeated her buy rating but
"adjusted" her price target to $23 from $30. CD up 1.7% at $17.80. (CCW)
12:57 (Dow Jones) Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce's (BCM) 1Q earnings of
88 Canadian cents a share beat the 60 cents BMO Nesbitt analyst Ian De Verteuil
had expected. He attributed about half of the upside surprise to help from the
bank's overall tax rate. Discounting this help, though, Verteuil said at first
glance the bank's results still seemed relatively strong, benefitting from good
capital market fees, solid trading revenue and the bank's cost controls. He
also suggested that the bank's healthy dividend increase is "probably a sign
that things look good for the year." A negative was the uptick in new impaired
loan formations at the bank. BCM up 2.9% to $32.46. (BED)
12:50 (Dow Jones) Merrill Lynch says with the upward revision to 4Q growth,
1Q GDP will now likely stand at 3.5%, and that 4Q productivity will be revised
from 3.5% to 4.0%. That 4% productivity rate will likely hold into the 1Q as
well, Merrill Lynch says. (MSD)
(END) DOW JONES NEWS 02-28-02
04:27 PM |
