Friday, Sept. 24, 1999
After-Hours Markets
Got a minute? Got a buck and change?
Island ECN's
most-active leaders,
Paging Network
and
Imaging Technologies
, are so cheap that paper carriers, baby sitters and pensioners now have brokers and a
Gordon Gekko
sneer. Trading is usually light during Friday's after-hours trading. Tonight was no exception. Aside from the itsy-bitsy teeny-weeny leaders, the only other notable stock was
TMP Worldwide
, up over a point.
Island ECN, owned by Datek Online Holdings, offers trading, mainly in Nasdaq-listed stocks, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT. Prior to Sept. 15 Island offered trading from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. EDT
.
--
Eric Gillin
Day-Session Report
At the close, the major stock indices finished the day in the red, after making a late-day attempt to rid themselves of the session's losses. The
TheStreet Recommends
Dow Jones Industrial Average
closed down 39 at 10,279, while the
Nasdaq Composite Index
finished down 9 at 2740.
The big European indices wrapped up the day's session with sizable losses. France's
CAC
fell 51.99 to 4549.25, Germany's
Xetra Dax
tumbled 102.48 to 5197.09 with London's
FTSE
slipping 23 to 5946.7.
In Asia, Japan's
Nikkei
picked up where it left off before yesterday's holiday, closing down 454.03 to 16,871.73, while Hong Kong's
Hang Seng
finished down 182.37 to 13,032.07.
Mergers, Acquisitions and Joint Ventures
Cendant
(CD)
announced its plan to sell its
North American Outdoor Group
division to fund management firm
Doughty Hanson
for $150 million. Cendant said it would assume a fourth-quarter gain of $107 million. The transaction calls for Doughty Hanson to pay $140 million in cash for the unit, with Cendant retaining a 6% interest.
Landair
(LAND)
said that its transport division inked a $60 million deal with
Sonoco Products
(SON)
. The transaction calls for Landair Transport to support six Midwest paper and packaging plants with trucking services and an additional six plants in the Southeast. In addition, Landair would also offer yard switching and management for two plants in South Carolina and Tennessee.
MCI WorldCom
undefined
and
Sprint
undefined
have been chatting about a merger,
The Wall Street Journal
reported. The newspaper said that although Sprint has held talks with a few telecom titans, negotiations with MCI have recently picked up. The
Journal
story also said that significant roadblocks remain, which could sink a deal.
Phelps Dodge
(PD)
said it has been awarded antitrust clearance from U.S. regulators for its bids to purchase
Asarco
(AR)
and
Cyprus Amax
(CYM)
, which have declined the unsolicited offers. On Wednesday, Phelps upped its offers for the companies to $2.75 million.
Pinnacle West Capital
(PNW)
said it would probably assume a third-quarter charge of $1.65 a share associated with an agreement with Arizona regulators. The company said the regulators authorized a deal with Pinnacle West's electric utility
Arizona Public Service
, which relates to the initiation of customer choice in its service area.
Merrill Lynch
raised its rating on the stock to near-term accumulate from neutral.
Security First Technologies
(SONE)
announced its plans to acquire privately held
VerticalOne
in a stock deal valued at $166 million. In May, Security First said it would purchase
FICS Group NV
and
Edify
(EDFY)
for $1.4 billion in stock.
Earnings/Revenue Reports and Previews
Citing higher catastrophe losses,
Allstate
(ALL)
warned it expects third-quarter operating earnings of 50 to 55 cents a share, which would miss both the 13-analyst estimate of 78 cents and the year-ago 76 cents. The company said it expects to post earnings Oct. 20. Also, Allstate said, depending on developments in the weather, fourth-quarter operating earnings could come in between 65 and 73 cents a share, which would fall well below the 13-analyst estimate of 81 cents and below the company's year-ago operating earnings of 78 cents.
Warburg Dillon Read
hammered Allstate's rating to hold from a strong buy.
Goodyear
(GT)
said third-quarter earnings could come in slightly above or below analyst estimates and would reflect work-force reductions. Goodyear said it expects earnings of 50 to 56 cents a share in the third quarter. The current seven-analyst estimate is for 51 cents a share.
Park Electrochemical
(PKE)
posted second-quarter earnings of 53 cents a share, beating the three-analyst estimate of 44 cents and the year-ago 2 cents.
Steelcase
(SCS)
reported second-quarter earnings of 25 cents a share, beating the six-analyst estimate of 24 cents but down from the year-ago 41 cents.
Analyst Actions
Warburg Dillon Read
raised its fiscal 1999 estimates for
ADC Communications
(ADCT)
to $1.38 from $1.35 a share.
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown
upgraded
Atmos Energy
(ATO)
to buy from market perform.
BancBoston Robertson Stephens
started coverage of
Boston Scientific
(BSX)
with an initial buy rating.
U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray
upped its rating on
Copper Mountain
(CMTN)
to strong buy from buy and set a price target of 100 on the stock.
Merrill Lynch upgraded
CVS
(CVS)
to a buy and set a price target of 54.
Banc of America
upped its fiscal 2000 estimates of
Darden Restaurants
(DRI)
to $1.22 from $1.19 a share.
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter
raised its rating on
EarthLink
(ELNK)
to strong buy from outperform and set a price target of 74 on the stock.
Merrill Lynch raised its ratings on
Ericsson
undefined
and
Nokia
(NOK)
to near-term buy.
J.P. Morgan
cut its rating on
Frontier Insurance Group
(FTR)
to market perform from buy.
Morgan Stanley upped its fourth-quarter earnings estimate on
Hambrecht & Quist
undefined
to $1.25 from 97 cents a share.
BancBoston Robertson Stephens
analyst Dan Niles said the earthquake in Taiwan and soft third-quarter PC demand might put near-term pressure on
Intel
(INTC)
. Niles reiterated his long-term attractive rating on the stock.
ING Barings
rolled out coverage of
Lockheed Martin
(LMT)
with a hold rating.
Warburg Dillon Read sliced its rating on
Kroll-O'Gara
undefined
to hold from strong buy.
Merrill Lynch upgraded
Lehman Brothers
undefined
to near- and long-term buy from accumulate.
Warburg Dillon Read raised its rating on
Medquist
(MEDQ)
to strong buy from buy.
Morgan Stanley lowered its third-quarter and 1999 estimates on Merrill Lynch
(MER)
to $1.28 from $1.34 a share and to $5.46 from $5.60 a share, respectively.
Merrill Lynch rolled out coverage of
McLeodUSA
(MCLD)
with near-term accumulate and long-term buy ratings.
Salomon Smith Barney said that
Microsoft's
(MSFT)
weakness is a buying opportunity.
Merrill Lynch upped its rating on
Motorola
(MOT)
to near-term buy from near-term accumulate.
J.P. Morgan cut it rating on
National Data
undefined
to a long-term buy from buy.
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown raised its fourth-quarter earnings estimates on
Park Place Entertainment
(PPE)
to 10 cents a share from 8 cents.
ING Barings raised its rating on
Precision Response
(PRRC)
to strong buy from a buy.
BancBoston Robertson Stephens cut its rating on
Rambus
(RMBS)
to a long-term attractive from buy.
SG Cowen
sliced its fiscal 2000 estimates on
Research in Motion
(RIMM)
to 19 cents from 21 cents a share.
Prudential Securities
began coverage of
Station Casinos
(STN)
with an accumulate rating.
Prudential Securities initiated coverage of
TheStreet.com
undefined
, the parent company of this Web site, with an initial strong buy rating.
Salomon Smith Barney
sliced its 1999 earnings estimates on
Union Carbide
(UK)
to $1.67 a share from $1.86.
Offerings and Stock Actions
Alteon WebSystems
undefined
soared 55 15/16, or 294% to 74 15/16 in its trading debut. Lehman Brothers priced the 4 million-share IPO above range at $19 a share.
Brooktrout
undefined
said its
Interspeed
(ISPD:Nasdaq) unit is set to make its trading debut today. The $2 million deal was priced at $12 a share. U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray, Warburg Dillon Read,
Tucker Anthony Clearly Gull
and
DLJdirect
were underwriters for the deal.
The
New York Stock Exchange
said
CTS
(CTS)
declined to comment on its shares' recent decline. The stock closed down 3 5/8, or 6%, to 53.
NetZero
(NZRO)
jumped 13 1/8, or 82%, to 29 1/8 in its first day of trading on the Nasdaq. Goldman Sachs priced the 10 million-share offering at top-range at $16 a share.
NTL
undefined
said it set a 5-for-4 stock split.
Sky Financial
(SKYF)
said it has set a 3.5 million-share buyback.
Sylvan Learning
undefined
unveiled its plans to spin off its Prometric computer-testing division. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown will serve as the deal's lead underwriter.
Webstakes
(IWIN)
closed down 2 1/2, or 17.8%, to 11 1/2 in its first day of trading.
Bear Stearns
priced the disappointing 3.5 million-share IPO mid-range at $14 a share.
Miscellany
AutoNation
(AN)
said it has tapped Michael J. Jackson to become its CEO.
DaimlerChrysler
(DCX)
announced it has trimmed its management board to 14 members from 17 and that Thomas Stallkamp, the company's North American president, will leave the company by the end of the year.
Horizon Properties
(HGPI)
announced the possibility of a partial or complete sale of its real estate portfolio in an attempt to boost shareholder value. The company has brought
Secured Capital
on board to advise Horizon on strategic options.
Rite Aid
(RAD)
said it would reduce its workforce by 330 in an attempt to save $20 million a year. Earlier today, the company said most of the cuts would take place at its headquarters in Harrisburg, Pa. In addition, Rite Aid plans to shut down its Ogden, Utah, distribution hub, moving its operations to Lancaster, Calif. Yesterday, charges of deceptive trade practices from the Florida Attorney General's office pummeled the company's shares. Lehman Brothers slashed its fiscal 2000 and 2001 estimates to $1.28 a share from $1.56 and to $1.49 a share from $1.88, respectively.
Telident
undefined
said that its president and CEO, W. Edward McConaghay, has stepped down to become the CEO of personal computing company
ViA
.
Timken
(TKR)
said that it has brought J.P. Morgan on board to strategize options for its specialty steel division, which would allow the company to become more competitive.
Staff reporter
Brian Louis contributed to this report.
