Tough Earnings May Be Ahead
After over two weeks of selling pressure, stocks bounced, helped by pro-growth comments from Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. The gains came despite continued weakness in Facebook (FB - News) shares following its IPO and a weak outlook from #2 home improvement retailer Lowe's (LOW - News). We think this could be a tough week earnings wise, so we don't believe the selling pressure is completely over yet for this spring/summer time frame.
The Stem Cell Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Osiris Therapeutics (OSIR - News) with a 15% gain. The Fuel Cell Stocks Index was the day's worst performing tickerspy Index, with Hoku Corp (HOKU - News) down -11%.
Stocks climbed on the day, led by a 68 point, or 2.5%, surge in the Nasdaq to 2,847. The Dow added 135 points to 12,505, while the S&P jumped 21 points to 1,316. Oil rose $1.09 to $92.57 a barrel, while gold fell -$3.20 to $1,588.70 an ounce.
In earnings news, Campbell Soup (CPB - News) posted a quarterly profit of $177 million, or 55 cents per share, compared with $187 million, or 57 cents per share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 56 cents. Revenue rose to $1.821 billion, from $1.813 billion. Analysts had expected a profit of 52 cents on sales of 1.818 billion. The company said it still expects full-year adjusted profit to fall -5% to -7% to $2.35-$2.42. Shares of Campbell fell -1.9%. Six pros counted Campbell among their top holdings at the end of Q1 and nearly 180 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.
Shares of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD - News) surged 10.5% after the company reported a first-quarter profit of $6 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with $9.2 million, or 13 cents per share, a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, the company earned 14 cents per share. Revenue rose 4% to $108.5 million. Analysts had expected a profit of 8 cents per share on a revenue of $111.4 million.
Shares of electrical components and tools makers Cooper Industries (CBE - News) soared 25.1% after the company received an $11.8 billion cash and stock takeover offer from rival Eaton (ETN - News). Eaton will pay $72 per share for Cooper, including $39.15 in cash and the rest in equity. Five pros counted Cooper Industries among their top holdings at the end of Q1 and nearly 80 tickerspy members own the stock in their portfolios.
Shares of social media giant Facebook plunged -11.0% in the stock's second day of trading, falling below last Friday's IPO price of $38. BTIG Research initiated coverage of the stock today with a "neutral" rating, while Susquehanna started coverage of Facebook with a "buy" rating and a $48 price target.
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