Friday, May 3, 1996
THE MARKET MIDDAY
FOOL PLATE SPECIAL
UPGRADES & DOWNGRADES ProNet <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: PNET)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: PNET)") end if %> had its rating lowered from "outperform" to "neutral"
by Morgan Stanley today. Despite the fact that it has "net" in its name,
shares of the healthcare paging systems developer fell $2 1/8 to $31 3/8.
EARNINGS SURPRISES John Alden <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: JA)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: JA)") end if %> was up $1 7/8 to $21 this morning on
much-stronger-than-expected earnings of $0.71 EPS before restructuring charges.
The midwest health insurance concern has been battered in the past year over
worse-than-expected earnings, beginning the sell-off in health maintenance
organizations (HMOs) in 1995.
Biotech company Intercardia <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ITRC)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ITRC)") end if %> rose $4 to $29 after reporting
a loss of $0.11 EPS for the fiscal second quarter after the bell yesterday.
Reporting a 60% increase in quarterly sales and a net profit of $0.18
EPS versus a loss of $0.33 EPS a year ago, Odetics <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ODETA)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: ODETA)") end if %> soared
$1 3/4 to $11.
Printer-developer Kentek Information <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: KNTK)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: KNTK)") end if %> shot out the lights
last evening, posting a net of $0.51 EPS compared to all of $0.13 EPS a year
ago, and rising $1 3/4 to $11 1/2 this morning.
A small-cap that missed its earnings estimates: TechForce <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: TFRC)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: TFRC)") end if %>
flopped $1 to $11 1/2 this morning on earnings of $0.11 EPS versus a penny
last year. The company provides integrated support solutions for the computer
and networking industries.
IPC Information Systems <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: IPCI)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: IPCI)") end if %>, supplier of communications solutions
to financial services companies, only managed to report $0.34 EPS versus
$0.31 EPS a year ago, getting clobbered for $2 to $18 today.
Pediatric Services <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: PSAI)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: PSAI)") end if %> missed earnings estimates of $0.22 EPS
by two cents this morning, getting whacked for $4 3/4 to $20 as a result.
Raymond Corp. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: RAYM)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: RAYM)") end if %>, a maker of flow-control equipment, dropped
$1 to $17 when it posted earnings of $0.45 EPS compared to estimates of $0.47
EPS and $0.44 EPS last year.
Centigram Comm. <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CGRM)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CGRM)") end if %> got nailed $5 3/8 to $17 1/2 after the
company reported that it expects to lose $0.20 to $0.26 EPS in the second
quarter on only $24 to $25 million in revenues. The developer of integrated
communications products was also cut by Smith Barney from "outperform" to
"neutral".
ODDS & ENDS Privately-held CertainTeed Corp. must prefer two in the bush to a bird
in the hand, as it announced that it ended its tender offer for Bird Corp.
<% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: BIRD)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: BIRD)") end if %>, meaning that the two construction companies will not be merging
after all. Bird Corp. was plucked $2 1/2 to $4 1/2 on the news.
Troubles continue to mount at WellCare <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: WELLE)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: WELLE)") end if %>. First forced to
find a new accountant after revelations in Barron's about funky accounting
practices came to light, the Nasdaq has now decided to delist the New York-based
HMO, causing it to drop $2 to $11 this morning.
Micro-catheter-maker Target Therapeutics <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: TGET)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: TGET)") end if %> slipped $3 to
$47 as investors tried to figure out whether or not an acquisition the
development stage biotech made this week might decrease its chances of being
bought out by a larger firm later.
Zenith Electronics <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NYSE: ZE)") else Response.Write("(NYSE: ZE)") end if %> has been springing to life lately, announcing
deals with Motorola, Cisco Systems, and US Robotics to develop cable modems
and get into the Internet market. The stock was up $1 7/8 to $14 7/8.
Modem-maker US Robotics <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: USRX)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: USRX)") end if %> continued in its volatile ways,
surging forward $10 1/2 to $163 1/2 to make up for a comparable slip yesterday.
NOTE: Transmitted: 5/3/96 11:27 AM
Randy Befumo (MF Templar), a
Fool
Economic indicators tend to send the market
on a roller-coaster ride. When large institutions cannot figure out what
is happening in the big picture, their actions in the stock market become
more constrained, volatile, arbitrary and erratic. The buzz going around
is that the economy in the first quarter was stronger than anyone expected.
. . Gross Domestic Product (GDP) up 2.8%, hourly wages up seven cents to
the highest level since 1991, along with hard-to-interpret jobs increases.
Although the non-farm payroll number only rose 2,000 for April, far less
than expected, the jobless rate continued to plummet, down 0.2% to 5.4% --
the lowest level in 14 months. What does this all mean for Fools? Not a lot.
Fools like to see the economy do well and view short-term sell-offs due to
bad economic news as opportunities to buy into the growth that will come
down the pike in a few weeks. Fools like to get behind the big ol' economy
and cheer it on -- even if it means inflation clicks up from thirty-year
lows and the Fed does not cut interest rates. It is only when people are
confident and have more money to spend that they can go out and buy all the
cool stuff Foolish companies make. So look to the coming volatility as
institutions change their macro-economic picture as an opportunity to buy
great companies during temporary, panic-inspired fire sales.
AML Communications <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: AMLJ)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: AMLJ)") end if %>
surged another $2 3/8 to $28 3/4 after a similar gain yesterday on news that
Dabney Resnik had initiated coverage of the company with a "long-term buy"
rating, calling the company an "attractive takeover target".
Microtouch Systems <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: MTSI)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: MTSI)") end if %> might finally
be turning around. Up $1 15/16 to $19 3/4, the developer of touch-screen
interfaces reported earnings of $0.15 per share (EPS), two cents higher than
the Street was looking for.
Cascade Communications <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CSCC)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CSCC)") end if %> surged
$5 3/4 to $104 3/4 this morning after announcing a 2-for-1 split. The developer
of frame relay and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switches was recently
jilted by Cisco Systems <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CSCO)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: CSCO)") end if %> for Stratacom <% if gsSubBrand = "aolsnapshot" then Response.Write("(NASDAQ: STRM)") else Response.Write("(NASDAQ: STRM)") end if %> in spite
of the similarity in the tickers.
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another Fool