BB&T, Fannie Mae Fall; CIT, Daimler, Eaton Rise

Mayank Mehta
19 Oct, 2009
New York City

Stocks in the early afternoon traded higher. BB&T led the decliners in the S&P 500 index. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged on negative comments. Gannett, Eaton and Daimler increased on the earnings announcements.

[R]2:00 PM New York – Stocks in the early afternoon traded higher. BB&T led the decliners in the S&P 500 index. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac plunged on negative comments. Gannett, Eaton and Daimler increased on the earnings announcements.[/R]

Stocks by the early afternoon traded higher as investors bid up industrials and financial stocks. Of the S&P 500 index stocks, 434 increased, 61 decreased and 5 were unchanged.

S&P 500 Index Movers

BB&T Corp decreased 4.7% and led the decliners in the index followed by losses at AIG of 4.2%, at Dynegy Inc of 4%, in at Hasbro Inc of 3.4% and at SunTrust Banks of 2.6%.

Motorola led the gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 7.9% followed by gains in Gannett Co of 7.2%, in Eaton Corp of 6.8%, in Nordstrom Inc of 4.9% and in AutoNation Inc of 4.8%.

Other Movers

Acergy SA ((ACGY)) increased 5.6% to $13.80 after the offshore oil energy engineering contractor was awarded a contract of $500 million by Chevron Nigeria Ltd. Engineering work is expected to commence immediately and scheduled to be finished the end of 2010.

AirTran Holdings Inc ((AAI)) increased 4.5% to $5.34 after the discount airliner was upgraded by JP Morgan Chase to “overweight” from “neutral.”

Allion Healthcare Inc ((ALLI)) surged 19% to $6.47 after the HIV and chronic illness medication and pharmacy management company agreed to be acquired by H.I.G Capital for $6.60 a share or $278 million.

Autoliv AB ((ALV)) increased 4% to $37.52 after Swedish air bag and seat belt maker price target was lifted by the analyst Adam Jonas $46 from $28 and revised earnings per share to 36 cents from a loss of 10 cents. The company also estimated its market share in China to increase 34% and sales to surge 75% to $700 million by 2012.

BB&T Corp ((BBT)) decreased 4.5% to $26.99 after the regional bank reported third quarter earnings plunged 58% to $152 million of 23 cents a share compared to 65 cents a share. The bank also reported higher real estate linked loan losses.

Brigham Exploration Company ((BEXP)) decreased 0.7% to $10.20 after the company plans to raise $137 million through the sale of 14 million shares. The oil exploration company plans to drill 24 horizontal wells and also repay debt.

CIT Group ((CIT)) surged 8.9% to $1.22 after Carl Ichan offered the troubled lender $6 billion in loans and said that the company’s restructuring plan that involves bondholders penalizes shareholders.

Daimler AG ((DAI)) increased 6.5% to $55.99 after the company guided higher operating earnings and cash flows compared to market expectations.

Eaton Corp ((ETN)) Corp increased 6.9% to $64.64 after third quarter earnings were better than expected and the company lifted the annual earnings outlook as well. Quarterly earnings fell to $1.14 a share compared to $1.87 but were ahead of market expectations.

Fannie Mae ((FNM)) plunged 17.8% to $1.20 and Freddie Mac ((FRE)) dropped 18% to $1.41 after an analyst at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods downgraded the stocks. Analyst also suggested that stocks may be worth zero even after the government bailout and subsequent recapitalization.

Fortress International Group, Inc ((FIGI)) surged 91% to 80 cents after the data networking facilities management company received $39.4 million of new contracts. The stock jumped on a heavy volume of 2.63 million share trading compared to average daily volume of 36,000.

Gannett Co Inc ((GCI)) increased 7.7% to $14 after the media company reported third quarter earnings of 31 cents a share. The adjusted earnings fell to 44 cents a share

Hasbro Inc ((HAS)) declined 2.8% to $28.68 after it reported third quarter revenues decline of 1.7% to $1.28 billion on the currency swings. Third quarter earnings increased 8.8% to 99 cents a share compared to 88 cents a share.

InterDigital Inc ((IDCC)) dropped 16.5% to $20.41 after the digital wireless technology developer failed to convince an ITC administrative law judge that Nokia Corp violated one of its patent.

IPCS Inc ((IPCS)) surged 33.6% to $23.89 after operator of pre-paid wireless plans in affiliation with Sprint Nextel agreed to be acquired by the company for $831 million including $405 million in debt.

K12 Inc ((LRN)) declined 5.3% to $17.61 after the technology based education company said its finance chief John Baule has resigned and does not have an immediate replacement. The executive has been the company for the last five years and shepherded its initial public offering in Dec 2007. Baule also sold large part of holding in the company few months ago.

Manitowoc Company, Inc ((MTW)) surged 8.8% to $11.60 after RBC Capital Markets rated the stock as “sector perform.”

PetMed Express Inc ((PETS)) dropped 11.1% to $17.48 after it reported fiscal 2010 earnings per share of 28 cents compared to 25 cents a share on the sales of $62.4 million.

The Princeton Review Inc ((REVU)) increased 5.1% to $4.74 after the company agreed to acquire online education firm Penn Foster Education Group Inc for $170 million from private equity group Wicks Group.

Rostelecom OAO ((ROS)) surged 15.2% to $40.08 ahead of board meeting to discuss reorganization tomorrow.

Twin Disc, Inc ((TWIN)) dropped 10.3% to $13.10 after the maker of heavy duty transmissions products for heavy duty equipment reported fiscal first quarter loss of 22 cents compared to earnings of 22 cents a share.

Weatherford International Ltd ((WFT)) decrease 3.3% to $19.91 after third quarter net income decreased to 477.4 million or 11cents a share compared to $370 million or 54 cents a share.