Stocks Turn Mixed After Early Fall on Compaq Warning

The Internet sector is rallying.

Author:: Brian Louis
Publish date:: Apr 12, 1999 11:05 AM EDT

After tumbling sharply early on, stocks managed to bounce off their

Compaq

(CPQ)

profit-warning-triggered lows.

Compaq said after the close on

Friday that it expects first-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share, less than half the 33-analyst

First Call

forecast of 31 cents. Compaq earned 1 cent in the year-ago period. Compaq was down 6 1/2, or 21%, to 24 7/16. It was most active on the

New York Stock Exchange

with 46 million shares changing hands.

The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 6 to 10,179. The

S&P 500

was down 5 to 1343. It bottomed at 1333. The

Nasdaq Composite Index

was down 16 to 2577. The Nasdaq Comp had fallen as much as 66 points at its nadir.

The small-cap

Russell 2000

was up fractionally at 406.

Internet stocks were up significantly.

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index was up 35 to 767.

RealNetworks

(RNWK) - Get Report

was flying on news it and

IBM

(IBM) - Get Report

set a pact to develop an application that will enable consumers to receive and process music and related data from the Internet using IBM security features. RealNetworks was up 22 1/16, or 11%, to 229 7/16. IBM, however, was down 4 15/16 to 181 3/38.

TheStreet.com E-Commerce Index

was up 3 to 135.

The 30-year Treasury bond was up 10/32 to 97 5/32, yielding 5.44%, off its session highs.

The Compaq warning was pounding PC makers. The

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Computer Box Maker Index

was down 4%. Semiconductor stocks were sharply lower. The

Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Index

was down 3%.

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

was down 3 5/16 to 62 1/8, after a downgrade by

BancBoston Robertson Stephens

. The chip giant is slated to report earnings tomorrow.

On the NYSE, decliners were beating advancers 1,505 to 1,083 on 236 million shares. On the

Nasdaq Stock Market

, losers were leading winners 1,860 to 1,407 on 343 million shares.

On the NYSE, 45 issues had set new 52-week highs while 30 had touched new lows. On the Nasdaq, 68 issues had set new highs while new lows totaled 58.

On the Nasdaq,

Dell

(DELL) - Get Report

was most active, with 23 million shares changing hands. It was down 2 1/8 to 41 1/2.

Company Focus: Unocal

Unocal's

(UCL)

Spirit Energy 76

unit today announced a "very significant" oil and gas discovery in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

The discovery, on the Mad Dog prospect, is located about 150 miles south of Venice, La., and was drilled in 5,000 to 7,000 feet of water. It is Unocal's second major find this year in the gulf. Although further testing is necessary, Unocal said the prospect likely contains over 400 million and as much as 800 million barrels of oil equivalent.

Spirit holds a 25% interest in the prospect.

BP Amoco

(BPA)

is the operator; a third partner is Australia's

Broken Hill Proprietary

(BHP) - Get Report

TheStreet.com

looked at Unocal in

two stories this morning.

Unocal also said it acquired a 50% working interest from

Conoco

(COC)

in the K2 prospect, just north of Mad Dog. Shares of Unocal were up 1/2 to 36 13/16.

Mavis Scanlon

9:55 a.m.: Stocks Tumble After Compaq Profit Warning

Compaq's

(CPQ)

profit warning after the close Friday helped send stocks sharply lower early on.

Blaming weak demand and competitive pricing, Compaq expects first-quarter earnings of 15 cents a share, less than half the 33-analyst

First Call

forecast of 31 cents. Compaq earned 1 cent in the year-ago period.

TheStreet.com

wrote about the debacle on

Friday.

The

Nasdaq Composite Index

was down 56 to 2537. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

was down 62 to 10,111. The

S&P 500

was down 13 to 1336. The

Russell 2000

was down 5 to 401.

TheStreet.com Internet Sector

index was down 3 to 729.

TheStreet.com E-Commerce Index

was down 3 to 128.

The 30-year Treasury bond was up 12/32 to 97 7/32, yielding 5.44%, thanks to the weakness in stocks.

Most Up at Open -- NYSE

Tanger Factory Outlet (SKT) - Get Report, up 1 3/16 to 22

Most Up at Open -- Nasdaq

RealNetworks (RNWK) - Get Report, up 10 1/2 to 218

IBM

(IBM) - Get Report

and RealNetworks set a pact to develop an application that will enable consumers to receive and process music and related data from the Internet using IBM security features.