Double Barrel Rally for Stocks

Search engine Ask Jeeves(ASKJ Quote) reported fourth-quarter earnings of $17.1 million, or 25 cents a share, compared with $7.6 million, or 13 cents a share, a year ago. Excluding items, the company earned 35 cents a share, beating estimates, though revenue of $86.1 million was slightly soft.

Ask Jeeves forecast 2005 earnings of $1.30 to $1.45 a share, bookending the analyst consensus, but the shares fell as investors continued to be wary of the competitive threat posed by Google(GOOG Quote) and Yahoo!(YHOO Quote). At Thursday's close of $26.94, the stock trades at 18.5 times the high end of 2005 guidance. Shares of Ask Jeeves dropped $1.55, or 5.7%, to $25.39.

Hard-drive maker Maxtor(MXO Quote) swung to a fourth-quarter loss of $70.2 million, or 28 cents a share, from a profit of $39.2 million, or 15 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were expecting a much narrower loss of 15 cents a share in the period. Fourth-quarter revenue of $1.03 billion was above analysts' expectations of $990 million, but lower than the $1.17 billion Maxtor reported a year ago. Shares gained 65 cents, or 13.3%, to $5.54.

Online retailer Shopping.com(SHOP Quote) dropped after the company reported a fourth-quarter loss of 9 cents a share. The decline resulted from an IPO-related dividend. Revenue for the quarter was $33.6 million. The Thomson First Call consensus was 27 cents a share on revenue of $33.6 million. Shares of Shopping.com slid $4.26, or 18.4%, to $18.94.

Shares of mortgage lender Countrywide(CFC Quote) were upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank, which argued that quarter-to-quarter earnings volatility has led to too much selling in the stock. The brokerage raised its price target to $43, implying almost 30% of upside from the current price of $35.72. Shares were higher by $1.21, or 3.4%, to $36.93.

Prudential Equity cut its rating for Gillette(G Quote) to underweight, saying that upside in the stock is now limited by the pending merger with Procter & Gamble(PG Quote). Gillette last week agreed to be aquired by P&G in a $57 billion deal. Gillette fell 65 cents, or 1.3%, to $49.75, while P&G lost 62 cents, or 1.2%, to $52.62.