New York Times Drops; Micro Technology Rebounds

Mayank Mehta
24 Dec, 2008
New York City

New York Times falls after November revenues decline. Micron Technology recovered from earlier losses after it reported a fall in quarterly revenues and wider loss. Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 345 increased, 151 decreased and 4 were unchanged.

[R]12:50PM New York – New York Times falls after November revenues decline. Micron Technology recovered from earlier losses after it reported a fall in quarterly revenues and wider loss.[/R]

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 345 increased, 151 decreased and 4 were unchanged.

Apartment Investment led decliners in the S&P 500 index stocks with a fall of 14.8% followed by losses in Jones Apparel of 6.3%, in Avalon Bay Community of 5.4% and New York Times of 5.2%.

Prologis led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 27% followed by increase in Micron Technology of 8.9%, in Tesoro Corp of 7.4%, in Abercrombie & Fitch of 6% and Qwest Communication and GameStop Corp of 5.4%.

Other Movers

Apartment Investment and Management Company ((AIV)) plunged 15.8% or $2.04 to $10.82. Last week, the real estate investment trust declared a special dividend payable to holders of its Class A Common Stock of $2.08 per share, or approximately $211 million.

Genworth Financial, Inc ((GNW)) fell 6.2% or 18 cents to $2.68 after the struggling insurer announced a plan to layoff approximately 1,000 employees.

General Motors Corporation ((GM)) rose 5.6% or 17 cents to $3.17 after the troubled automaker negotiates with suppliers, debt holders, dealers and workers union to lower obligations as it races to meet deadline of end of March of next year.

FSI International, Inc ((FSII)) dropped 6.6% or 0.025 cents to $0.350 after the manufacturer of capital equipment for the microelectronics industry said first quarter sales fell 45.5% to $12.2 million from $22.4 million a year ago. Net loss in the quarter was $5.3 million or 17 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $2.1 million or 7 cents per share a year ago.

Micron Technology, Inc ((MU)) rose 8.9% or 21 cents to $2.57 after the memory chip maker said first quarter sales fell 9% to $1.40 billion from $1.54 billion a year ago. Net loss in the quarter was $706 million or 91 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $262 million or 34 cents per share a year ago.

Navistar International Corporation ((NAV)) slid 4.9% or 98 cents to $19.04 after the maker of commercial and military trucks announced today that it will restate its financial results for the nine months ended July 31, 2008. The company expects to increase reported net income by $50 million to $70 million (or $0.68 to $0.95 per diluted share) for the nine months ended July 31, 2008.

New York Times ((NYT)) dropped 5.2% or 33 cents to $6.00 after the newspaper publisher reported November ad revenues decline of 20% and total company revenues fell 13.9%. The New York Times Media Group, which includes the New York Times newspaper, revenues in the month fell 21.2%.

Internet advertising declined 3.8% in the month but rose 8.3% for the year. Internet business revenues were 11.9% of total revenues in the month compared to 10.2% in the month a year ago.

The company may be forced to sell assets as it struggles with debt load and falling revenues including the headquarter building in Manhattan.

The company lowered its fourth quarter dividend by 75% and cut its capital expenditure in 2009 to $80 million from $140 million in 2008.

The company has two $400 million revolving credit agreements, one expiring in May 2009 and the other in June 2011. The company has said that it does not plan to replace its credit arrangement expiring in 2009.

Owens-Illinois, Inc ((OI)) climbed 10.1% or $2.26 to $24.50 after the world’s largest maker of glass containers will be added to widely followed S&P 500 index. Merrill Lynch, Wachovia Corp. and National City Corp. will be dropped from the benchmark index.

ProLogis ((PLD)) rose 16.4% or $1.66 to $11.77 after the world’s largest warehouse owner was upgraded by analysts at Wachovia to an “outperform.” Over the last 52 weeks the stock has ranged from a low of $2.20 in November to a high of $66.58 in April.

SCANA Corporation ((SCG)) added 2.8% or 96 cents to $34.94 after the South Carolina’s largest utility owner will be added in the S&P 500 index.

Supertex, Inc ((SUPX)) increased 11.2% or $2.30 to $22.81 after the maker of chips for telecommunications and medical instruments was upgraded by Lazard Capital to “buy” from “hold” and sets target price at $25.

YRC Worldwide Inc ((YRCW)) fell 33.0% or $1.06 to $2.18 after the largest trucking company said it is renegotiating its debt to improve its financial flexibility including changes in its leverage ratio and other debt covenants.