Friday, Sept. 10, 1999

<B>After-Hours Trading:</B> Cardima, AppNet and Amplidyne led the most-actives on Island ECN.

Author:: Tara Murphy
Publish date:: Sep 10, 1999 7:04 PM EDT

Markets

Island ECN offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. EDT

Eric Gillin

Day Session Report

The major U.S. stock indices closed today's trading session with dissimilar outcomes. The

Dow Jones Industrial Average

surrendered its early afternoon gains and declined 19 to 11,061, while the

Nasdaq Composite Index

continued to advance, ending the day up 39 at 2891.

In Europe, market indicators ended the session mixed. France's

CAC

was up 28 at 4745, Germany's

Dax

climbed 47 to 5483 and London's

FTSE

was down 69 at 6191.

In Asia, Japan's

Nikkei

managed to hold onto some of yesterday's gains, closing the trading session up 33 to 17,711, while Hong Kong's

Hang Seng

climbed 1 to 13,855.

Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures

An investment group led by

Broadcom

(BRCM)

President and CEO Henry T. Nicholas III is reportedly close to inking a letter of intent to acquire

Major League Baseball's

Anaheim Angels

and the

National Hockey League's

Mighty Ducks

from

Disney

(DIS) - Get Report

for $400 million to $500 million,

The New York Times

reported.

Illinois Tool Works

(ITW) - Get Report

hammered out an agreement to acquire

Premark International

(PMI)

in a $3.4 billion deal. Under the agreement, shareholders of Premark, a commercial food-equipment maker, will receive ITW stock with a market value of $55 for each Premark share. But the amount may vary, based on ITW's average share price in the 20 trading days before closing. Deerfield, Ill.-based Premark will become a wholly owned subsidiary of ITW.

ABN Amro

raised its price target on Illinois Tool to $100 from $93 and maintained its buy rating on the stock.

Old Kent Financial

(OK)

announced its plans to buy

Grand Premier Financial

(GPFI)

in a deal valued at $394 million. Old Kent said it would assume a one-time charge of $30 million.

Merrill Lynch

(MER)

unveiled plans to take a 14.3% interest in the electronic-trading system,

Archipelago Holdings

, which will start transacting orders in Big Board-listed stocks,

The Wall Street Journal

reported.

Earnings/Revenue Reports and Previews

ABC-NACO

(ABCR)

posted fourth-quarter earnings of 25 cents a share, in line with the five-analyst estimate of 25 cents but below the year-ago 28 cents.

Dow Chemical's

(DOW) - Get Report

CEO said he was comfortable with third-quarter earnings estimates. The 14-anlayst estimate calls for earnings of $1.32 a share.

GenCorp

(GY)

posted third-quarter earnings of 53 cents a share, beating both the five-analyst estimate of 52 cents and the year-ago 42 cents.

Maytag

(MYG)

said it expects to post third-quarter earnings close to the year-ago 84 cents a share, missing analysts' estimate of 99 cents. The company blames the disappointing earnings on slow sales in low-priced to moderately expensive home appliances.

National Semiconductor

(NSM)

reported a first-quarter profit of $57 million, or 25 cents a share, including a gain, reversing the year-ago loss of 63 cents a share. The 19-analyst estimate called for a loss of 14 cents a share. National Semiconductor didn't release per-share figures excluding the gain, but said pretax profit excluding the gain was $1.2 million.

Warburg Dillon Read

upped its year 2000 estimates on the stock to $1.18 from 59 cents, while

Salomon Smith Barney

took its fiscal 2000 estimates up to $1.25 from 75 cents and set a price target of 55.

Potash

(POT)

said it would shut down two U.S. nitrogen-fertilizer facilities and slice third-quarter earnings estimates in half. The plant closings in Clinton, Iowa, and LaPlatte, Neb., along with three others announced on Aug. 12, will mean an estimated $37 million third-quarter writeoff for the company. Potash said harsh market conditions in nitrogen and slowing trends in potash and phosphate would drive third-quarter earnings down to about a quarter of its $1.01 per share earnings for the same period last year.

J.P. Morgan

reduced the stock's rating to market performer from long-term buy.

Whirlpool

(WHR) - Get Report

said it was comfortable with analysts' third-quarter and fiscal year estimates of $1.33 and $5.15 respectively.

Offerings and Stock Actions

Children's Place

(PLCE) - Get Report

said it iced plans for a secondary offering of 3 million shares, citing a drop in its share price.

HNC

(HNCS)

announced its plans to spin off its

Retek

division in an initial public offering of its common stock. HNC said it expects the offering to debut in the fourth quarter.

Primus Telecommunications

(PRTL)

has set plans for a stock offering to raise $141.25 million.

Lehman Brothers

and

Morgan Stanley Dean Witter

will serve as the deal's lead underwriters.

Analyst Actions

Dain Rauscher

sliced its rating on

Apex

(APEX) - Get Report

to buy from strong buy.

Merrill Lynch raised its rating on

Atlantic Coast Air

(ACAI)

to near-term accumulate from a neutral.

Credit Suisse First Boston

analyst Mark Wolfenberger boosted

AppNet

(APNT)

and

Viant

(VIAN)

with positive comments.

Banc of America Securities

started

Capital One

(COF) - Get Report

with a buy rating.

Warburg Dillon Read sliced its third-quarter and 1999 earnings estimates on

Chase Manhattan Bank

(CMB)

to $1.28 from $1.33 and to $5.40 from $5.55 respectively, maintaining its strong buy rating. Yesterday, Merrill Lynch analyst Judah Kraushaar reiterated his near-term accumulate long-term buy on its shares and left the stock's estimates unchanged.

Wachovia Securities

rolled out coverage of

eBay

(EBAY) - Get Report

with a long-term buy rating and a price target of $208.

ING Barings

cut its rating on

HealthSouth

(HRC) - Get Report

to a hold from a buy. Yesterday, the company said it decided not to spin off its inpatient operations to shareholders and would instead keep its divisions under one business. HealthSouth also announced plans to restructure management at its outpatient services, a move that will result in charges of $250 million to $300 million by the end of the year. J.P. Morgan sliced its rating on the shares to a long-term buy from a buy, while

Credit Suisse First Boston

and

Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette

also dropped their ratings on the stock.

Lehman Brothers downgraded shares of

Idec Pharmaceuticals

(IDPH)

to outperform from buy.

Goldman Sachs

trimmed its 1999 earnings estimate on

J.P. Morgan

(JPM) - Get Report

down 50 cents to $10 and shaved 80 cents off of its year 2000 estimate to $11.50. Goldman also sliced its third-quarter estimates on the shares to $2.10 from $2.46.

Morgan Stanley raised its rating on

MidAmerican Energy

(MEC) - Get Report

to outperform from neutral.

Banc of America rolled out coverage on

MBNA

(KRB)

with a market perform rating.

Goldman Sachs initiated coverage of

MKS Instruments

(MKSI) - Get Report

with a market outperform rating.

Banc of America began coverage of

Providian

(PVN)

with a buy rating.

Banc of America lowered its rating on

St. Jude Medical

(STJ)

to a buy from a strong buy.

Salomon Smith Barney analyst Geoff Kieburtz cut his 1999 earnings estimates on

Schlumberger

(SLB) - Get Report

to $1.05 from $1.10 and sliced numbers on

Petroleum GeoServices

(PGO)

to 65 cents from 75 cents.

Warburg Dillon Read reduced its year 2000 estimates on

Sprint

(FON)

to $1.90 from $2.05, maintaining its buy rating.

PaineWebber

cut its rating on

Sunoco

(SUN) - Get Report

to attractive from buy.

PaineWebber upped its rating on

TC Pipeline

(TCLPZ)

to a buy from an attractive.

PaineWebber cut its rating on

Tosco

(TOS)

at attractive from a buy.

PaineWebber lowered its rating on

Ultramar Diamond

(UDS)

to a neutral from an attractive.

Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette upped its rating on

Union Pacific

(UNP) - Get Report

to a buy from an accumulate.

Goldman Sachs rolled out coverage of

Varian Semiconductor

(VSEA)

with a market outperform rating.

Warburg Dillon Read upped its rating on

Veritas

(VTS)

to buy from hold and set a price target of $28. The stock closed Thursday at 21.

Credit Suisse First Boston raised its rating on

Viant

(VIAN)

to a strong buy from a buy and set a new price target of 55.

Miscellany

American Online

(AOL)

said former

Sun

(SUNW) - Get Report

strategist William Raduchel would replace Mark Andreessen as chief tech officer. Andreessen resigned his role but will continue to serve as a part-time strategist for the company.

Leasing Solutions

(LSN)

said it would be delisted from the

New York Stock Exchange

if it fails to meet the NYSE listing requirements.

Law enforcement officials said wire transfer company

Torfinex

, which is connected to the

Bank of New York

(BK) - Get Report

money-laundering investigation, seems to have operated illegally in the U.S., channeling millions of dollars out of Russia,

The Wall Street Journal