MetLife, Principal Plunge; Stewart Drops 25%

123jump.com Staff
08 Oct, 2008
New York City

Stewart Enterprises plunges 25% after the rival Service Corp withdrew the offer. Merrill Lynch falls on the worries that current quarter loss will be wider than expected. Bank of America drops on $10 billion capital raising plan. MetLife plans secondary offering.

[R]1:20PM New York – Stewart Enterprises plunges after the rival withdraws the offer. Bank of America declines on weak earnings and a plan to raise $10 billion. MetLife drops on secondary offer plan and dragged the sector lower.[/R]

Acergy S.A ((ACGY)) surged 4.92% or 37 cents to $7.60. The UK based offshore oil platform construction contractor reported a 38% rise in pretax profits for the third quarter and said that fundamentals of the business are strong.

Alcoa Inc ((AA)) lost 14.60% or $2.42 to $14.29. The aluminum company reported a decline of 52% in its third-quarter profit and suspended it stock repurchase plan. Net income in the quarter fell 52% to $268 million or 33 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $555 million or 63 cents per share, a year ago.

Bank of America Corporation ((BAC)) lost 8.16% or $1.91 to $21.83. the bak plans to raise in a secondary offering of 455 million shares at $22 a share Tuesday to raise $10 billion for its acquisition of Merrill Lynch & Co. The bank also announced a plan of $8.4 billion to provide a mortgage payment relief to nearly 400,000 customers across the nation of the recently acquired Countrywide Financial. The troubled mortgage lender has been under sharp scrutiny for its lending practices. Bank of America purchased Countrywide for $4 billion on July 1.

Costco Wholesale Corporation ((COST)) fell 7.51% or $4.15 to $54.37. Discount retailer reported fourth quarter sales rose 13% to $23.1 billion from $20.48 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 7% to $397.8 million or 90 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $372.4 million or 83 cents per share, a year ago. Same store sales in September at domestic locations, excluding gasoline sales rose 7% and in constant currencies at international locations rose 8%.

Goldcorp Inc ((GG)) gained 6.72% or $1.76 to $27.56 after the precious metals prices increased in New York trading. Agnico-Eagle Mines ((AEM)) gained 5.2% or $2.34 $47.01, Newmont Mining rose 5.4% or $1.68 to $34.19 and Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold ((FCX)) edged 0.4% or 17 cents lower to $38.55.

Lindsay Corporation ((LNN)) gained 3.75% or $3.23 to $59.73. A leading provider of irrigation systems and infrastructure products reported fourth quarter revenues rose 100% to $147.2 million from $73.5 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 197% to $11.3 million or 90 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $3.8 million or 32 cents per share, a year ago.

LDK Solar Co., Ltd ((LDK)) gained 6.26% or $1.29 to $20.61 after the manufacturer of multi-crystalline solar wafers updated outlook for the third quarter of 2008. Based upon preliminary data for the third quarter, LDK Solar estimates revenue to be in the range of $530 to $540 million and wafer shipments between 230 MW to 240 MW.

Merrill Lynch & Co ((MER)) dropped 9.56% or $1.75 to $16.26 after research analyst at Fox- Pitt Kelton suggested the investment banker will post a much wider loss in the third quarter on a write down of $8.5 billion. The research note was cited in news at Reuters and Bloomberg news services.


MetLife, Inc ((MET)) fell 13.05% or $4.80 to $32.10. The largest life insurance company said that it will raise capital by selling 75 million shares and cut jobs after its earnings fell by up to 48 per cent in the third quarter amid losses from exposure to Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual and AIG.

Hartford Financial Services ((HIG)) dropped 5.4% or $1.54 to $27.09, a 12-year low and Principal Financial Group ((PFG)) plunged 21% or $5.70 to $21.42, a seven-year low. The stock traded at this level last on October 26, 2001.

Randgold Resources Limited ((GOLD)) rose 12.43% or $4.26 to $38.14 after the gold miner was raised to ''buy'' from ''hold'' by Citigroup and precious metal prices rise.

Sealy Corporation ((ZZ)) added 5.93% or 24 cents to $4.29 after the bedding mattress maker reported net sales for quarter fall of 9.3% to $404.96 million from $446.38 million in the prior-year quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $389.82 million.

Stewart Enterprises, Inc ((STEI)) plunged 25.67% or $1.82 to $5.27 plunged after the rival funeral services provider Service Corp. International withdrew its takeover offer. In July the company rejected the Service Corp offer of $11 a share or $1 billion for the company. Stewart Enterprises in the SEC filing said, “It has now become apparent to us that either your level of commitment to this transaction or your ability to consummate this transaction is not what it once was.” But, in the filing Stewart left the door open for more discussion on the offer.

Stewart owns and operates 231 funeral homes and 139 cemeteries and the company reported diluted earnings per share in 2007 of 38 cents compared to 35 cents a share. For the first six months at the end of April the company reported net earnings per share of 24 cents, flat from a year ago.