Red Hat, Patriot Coal, Micron Rise

Mayank Mehta
23 Dec, 2009
New York City

American Greetings swings to a third quarter gain. Cintas Corp second quarter sales fall 10% and earnings drop 20%. Micron Technology, Inc reports better than expected earnings. Red Hat earnings fall 33% as sales rise. Coal miners Patriot Coal, Peabody and others jump.

[R]11:45 AM New York – American Greetings swings to a third quarter gain. Cintas Corp second quarter sales fall 10% and earnings drop 20%. Micron Technology, Inc reports better than expected earnings. Red Hat earnings fall 33% as sales rise. Coal miners Patriot Coal, Peabody and others jump.[/R]

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 362 increased, 127 declined and 11 were unchanged.

Cintas Corporation led the decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 9.9% followed by losses in American International Group, Inc of 2.8% and in Franklin Resources, Inc of 2.1%, in FMC Technologies, Inc of 2.0% and in Lowe’s Companies, Inc of 1.7%.

Tenet Healthcare Corporation led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 7.7% followed by gains in The New York Times Company 6.9%, in Gannett Co., Inc of 6.5% and in Micron Technology, Inc of 5.6%.

Other Movers

Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc ((ACHN)) the biopharmaceutical company surged 16.3% or 52 cents to $3.70.

Altria Group, Inc ((MO)) the tobacco company advanced 1.1% or 23 cents to $20.10.

American Greetings Corporation ((AM)) rose 6.5% or $1.57 to $25.41 after the greetings card maker reported third quarter sales fell 3% to $440.2 million from $454.1 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $29.7 million or 75 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $193.3 million or $4.25 per share a year ago.

American International Group, Inc ((AIG)) fell 3.0% or 94 cents to $30.12.

Cintas Corporation ((CTAS)) decreased 7.1% or $2.13 to $27.55 after the corporate uniform maker said second quarter revenues fell 10.2% to $884.5 million from $985.2 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter fell 20.3% to $57.2 million or 37 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $71.8 million or 47 cents per share a year ago.

Compugen Ltd ((CGEN)) surged 78.5% or $2.23 to $5.07 after the maker of gene discovery tools signed a collaboration agreement with Pfizer for the predictive discovery by the company of therapeutic peptide product candidates for three drug targets. Pfizer will have the option to develop these products commercially.

Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc ((FCX)) the copper miner and processor rose 2.2% or $1.78 to $80.22.

The Finish Line, Inc ((FINL)) gained 5.9% or 59 cents to $10.59 after the seller of athletic shoes and clothes said third quarter sales fell 0.2% to $240.1 million from $240.6 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $6.7 million or 12 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $8.8 million or 16 cents per share a year ago.

Ford Motor Company ((F)) rose 0.7% or 7 cents to $9.97 after the automaker confirmed today that all substantive commercial terms relating to the sale of Volvo Car Corporation have been settled between Ford and China based Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Company Limited.

MGIC Investment Corporation ((MTG)) the mortgage insurer plunged 8.3% or 53 cents to $5.83.

Micron Technology, Inc ((MU)) increased 1.1% or 11 cents to $9.52 after the semiconductor maker said first quarter sales rose 24.3% to $1.74 billion from $1.40 billion a year ago. Net income in the quarter was $204 million or 23 cents per diluted share compared to net loss of $718 million or 93 cents per share a year ago.

Red Hat Inc ((RHT)) increased 7.1% or $2.12 to $31.99 after the open-source software developer said third quarter revenues rose 17.5% to $194.3 million from $165.3 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter fell 32.5% to $16.4 million or 8 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $24.3 million or 12 cents per share a year ago.

Schlumberger Limited ((SLB)) increased 1.7% or $1.13 to $65.12 after the oilfield-services provider was upgraded to “overweight” from “equal weight” at Barclays Capital.

SanDisk Corporation ((SNDK)) rose 3.0% or 83 cents to $28.27 after the maker of flash-memory cards used in digital cameras and mobile phones was upgraded to “buy” from “hold” at ThinkEquity LLC.

Tibco Software Inc ((TIBX)) jumped 7.7% or 70 cents to $9.73 after the software company said fourth quarter sales to $195.6 million from $185.5 million a year ago.

Yahoo! Inc ((YHOO)) the Internet portal and co added 2.6% or 42 cents to $16.40.