Dow Today: Bank Of America Corporation (BAC) Leads The Day Higher, Kraft Foods (KFT) Lags

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) is trading up 18 points (+0.1%) at 13,310 as of Friday, Sep 7, 2012, 9:35 a.m. ET. During this time, 65.4 million shares of the 30 Dow components have changed hands vs. an average daily trading volume of 584.6 million. The NYSE advances/declines ratio sits at 1,780 issues advancing vs. 755 declining with 176 unchanged.

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The Dow component leading the way higher looks to be Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC), which is sporting a 26-cent gain (+3.1%) bringing the stock to $8.61. This single gain is lifting the Dow Jones Industrial Average by 1.97 points or roughly accounting for 10.9% of the Dow's overall gain. Volume for Bank of America Corporation currently sits at 27.5 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 129.5 million shares.

Bank of America Corporation has a market cap of $85.68 billion and is part of the financial sector and banking industry. Shares are up 50.2% year to date as of Thursday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 0.5%.

Bank of America Corporation, through its subsidiaries, provides various banking and financial products and services to individual consumers, small-and middle-market businesses, institutional investors, corporations, and governments in the United States and internationally. The company has a P/E ratio of 6.3, below the average banking industry P/E ratio of 8.5 and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Bank of America Corporation as a hold. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its impressive record of earnings per share growth, compelling growth in net income and attractive valuation levels. However, as a counter to these strengths, we also find weaknesses including generally higher debt management risk, weak operating cash flow and a generally disappointing performance in the stock itself.

• You can view the full Bank of America Ratings Report.

Holding back the Dow today is Kraft Foods (Nasdaq:KFT), which is lagging the broader Dow index with a $1.66 decline (-3.9%) bringing the stock to $40.66. Volume for Kraft Foods currently sits at 2.5 million shares traded vs. an average daily trading volume of 10.7 million shares.

• See our dividend calendar or top-yielding stocks list.

Kraft Foods has a market cap of $73.95 billion and is part of the consumer goods sector and food & beverage industry. Shares are up 11.5% year to date as of Thursday's close. The stock's dividend yield sits at 2.8%.

Kraft Foods Inc., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and markets packaged food products worldwide. The company has a P/E ratio of 20.7, above the average food & beverage industry P/E ratio of 20.5 and above the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7.

TheStreet Ratings rates Kraft Foods as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its solid stock price performance, growth in earnings per share, increase in net income, reasonable valuation levels and good cash flow from operations. Although no company is perfect, currently we do not see any significant weaknesses which are likely to detract from the generally positive outlook.

• You can view the full Kraft Ratings Report.

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