U.S. Movers: MBIA, East West Bancorp, Lockheed Martin

Mukesh Buch
30 Dec, 2010
New York City

MBIA Inc soared after two banks withdrew lawsuits. East West Bancorp surged after the bank repaid TARP funds. General Moly, China restricts rare-earth exports. Lockheed Martin won order of $437 million from US Navy. Qwest redeemed outstanding 3.5% convertible notes of approximately $1.1 billion.

[R]11:30 AM New York – MBIA Inc soared after two banks withdrew their lawsuits. East West Bancorp surged after the bank repaid TARP funds. General Moly, China restricts rare-earth exports. Lockheed Martin won order of $437 million from US Navy. Qwest redeemed outstanding 3.5% convertible notes of approximately $1.1 billion plan to reduce debt by $3.5 billion by first quarter of 2011.[/R]

Of the stocks in the Dow, 12 increased, 18 decreased and none were unchanged.

Of the 30 stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Alcoa Inc. led the gainers with a rise of 0.83% followed by increase in Bank of America Corporation of 0.47%, in Intel Corporation of 0.44%, in Chevron Corporation of 0.42% in The Home Depot, Inc. of 0.29%.

E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company led the decliners with a fall of 0.78%, followed by decline in American Express Company of 0.58%, in JPMorgan Chase & Co. of 0.54%, in Pfizer Inc. of 0.48%, in The Walt Disney Company of 0.45%.

Other Movers

Anadarko Petroleum Corp ((APC)) soared more than 7% after UK based Daily Mail reported that BHP Billiton Ltd may make a takeover offer of $90 a share.

Ark Restaurants Corp. ((ARKR)) declined 2.1% or 32 cents to $14.29 after the restaurant and catering operator reported fourth quarter total revenues decreased to $31.9 million from $33.3 million in the comparable period a year ago. Same store sales decreased by 7.3%. Net income in the quarter was $1.1 million or 31 cents per diluted share, compared to $1.3 million or 38 cents per share a year earlier.

For the fiscal year 2010 revenue fell to $117.8 million in from $115.0 million last year. Same store sales decreased by 1.4% from fiscal 2009. Net income was $2.60 million or 74 cent per diluted share compared to net loss of $3.06 million or 87 cent per share a year earlier.

Bridgeline Software, Inc. ((BLIN)) tumbled 6.5% or 10 cents to $1.44 after the web application developer said fourth quarter revenue increased 29% to $6.9 million from $5.3 million from a year ago. Net loss in the quarter was $0.65 million or 6 cents per diluted share compared to net income loss $0.20 million or 2 cents per share from a year ago.

For the fiscal year 2010 revenue fell to $23.6 million in fiscal 2010 from $23.9 million from a year ago. Net loss was $0.38 million or 3 cents per diluted share, compared to net income $0.76 million or 7 cents per share from a year ago

East West Bancorp Inc ((EWBC)) increased as much as 2% after the California based bank confirmed that it repaid the U.S. Treasury for the $306.5 million of preferred stock issued under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

General Moly, Inc. ((GMO)) plunged 3.8% or 25 cents to $6.75 after the China said restrictions on rare-earth exports protect the environment it is in accordance with its World Trade Organization commitments.

Hauppauge Digital Inc. ((HAUP)) fell 0.8% or 2 cents to $2.23 after the analog and digital electronic products maker reported fourth quarter revenue plunged to $11.6 million from $16.3 million in the same quarter last year. Net loss in the quarter was $1.52 million or 15 cents per diluted share, compared to $1.55 million or 15 cents per share for the year-ago quarter.

For the fiscal year 2010, revenue decreased to $56.9 million in fiscal 2010 from $59.3 million last year. Net loss fell to $1.85 million or 18 cents per diluted share, compared to $7.14 million or 71 cents per share in fiscal 2009

Lockheed Martin Corporation ((LMT)) fell 0.3% or 23 cents to $68.90 after the U.S. Navy placed order of $437 million to construct up to 10 Littoral Combat Ships. The first of the 10 ships will be acquired in 2010 and the rest via options through 2015. Total value of the ship construction portion of the contract will be approximately of $3.6 billion.

MBIA Inc ((MBI)) rose 10% after Barclays Bank Plc and JPMorgan Chase Bank retracted their lawsuits against the company’s decision to separate its two insurance units.

Qwest Communications International Inc. ((Q)) rose 0.3% or 3 cents to $7.64 after the communication provider announced to redeemed all of its outstanding 3.5% convertible notes of approximately $1.1 billion of the notes (par value) were redeemed for total cash cost of $1.7 billion. Since February the company reduced debt by about $3.3 billion as part of its plan to reduce debt by $3.5 billion by the end of the first quarter of 2011.