Stocks in Motion: Converium

The reinsurer is cut in half by an earnings warning.

Author:: Mark Martinez
Publish date:: Jul 20, 2004 4:48 PM EDT

The reinsurer is cut in half by an earnings warning.

Updated from 11:34 a.m. EDT

Shares of

Tenneco Automotive

(TEN) - Get Report

were among the

NYSE's

big winners Tuesday after the company reported better-than-expected second-quarter earnings and sales, and said it expects to perform well during the second half of the year.

The Lake Forest, Ill.-based auto-parts maker reported pro forma earnings of 70 cents a share on sales of $1.11 billion. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had expected it to earn 54 cents a share on sales of $1.05 billion. Looking ahead, the company said that it is "cautiously optimistic" that its improving performance will continue during the second half of the year, despite "market uncertainties." Shares of Tenneco Automotive traded up $1.88, or 15.2%, to $14.23.

Radio Shack

(RSH)

rose after the company exceeded second-quarter earnings expectations and raised third-quarter guidance.

Second-quarter earnings of 42 cents a share easily beat the 39 cents analysts had expected. Sales, meanwhile, came in at $1.05 billion, in line with expectations. Looking ahead, Radio Shack expects to earn 38 cents to 40 cents a share during the third quarter. Analysts were expecting it to earn 37 cents a share. Shares of Radio Shack traded up $1.94, or 7.2%, to $29.02.

Shares of

Converium

(CHR)

got ripped after the reinsurer warned that second-quarter earnings would fall short of expectations. The company said its results would be negatively affected by a reserve strengthening of $400 million in connection with casualty losses related to underwriting the years of 1997-2001. Shares of Converium traded down $11.12, or 44.4%, to $13.90.

Ceridian

(CEN) - Get Report

fell after it postponed the release of its second-quarter earnings, which were due out today. "A concern was raised internally very recently regarding capitalization and expensing of certain costs in our U.S. Human Resource Solutions business," the company said. The company, which initiated the review, notified the

Securities and Exchange Commission

about the situation and is cooperating with the commission's request for additional information. Shares of Ceridian traded down $2.13, or 10.5%, to $18.21.

Shares of

Lucent

(LU)

rose after the company was selected by

Verizon

(VZ) - Get Report

to provide increased capacity of its ultralong-haul optical network. Under a three-year agreement, Verizon will be the first service provide in the U.S. to deploy Lucent's LambdaXtreme long-distance network. Verizon plans to deploy the system some time this summer. Shares of Lucent traded up 16 cents, or 4.9%, to $3.40.

NYSE volume leaders included Lucent;

Corning

(GLW) - Get Report

, up $1.42 to $12.69;

Boston Scientific

(BSX) - Get Report

, down $1.45 to $34.70;

Motorola

(MOT)

, up 65 cents to $16.09; and

Ford

(F) - Get Report