S&P Drops Patriot Coal from MidCap 400 Index (MHP, PCX, ALEX, MNST, SLE)

Standard & Poor’s Indices, a division of the McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), has announced changes to two stock indexes that are scheduled to occur next week.

Patriot Coal Corp. (NYSE: PCX) is being dropped from the S&P MidCap 400 index and will be replaced by Alexander & Baldwin Inc., a spinoff from the existing Alexander & Baldwin Holdings Inc. (NYSE: ALEX), after the close of trading on June 29th. S&P tossed a little dirt in Patriot’s face as well:

Patriot Coal is currently ranked #400 in the MidCap 400 index and is no longer representative of the midcap market space.

Ouch.

Monster Beverage Corp. (NASDAQ: MNST) will replace Sara Lee Corp. (NYSE: SLE) in the S&P 500 index after the close of trading on June 28th. Sara Lee is spinning off its meat business into a new company to be called The Hillshire Brands Co., which will trade on the NYSE under the symbol ‘HSH’. Sara Lee is also spinning off its coffee & tea business on the same day. Hillshire will replace Monster on the S&P MidCap 400.

Patriot shares are down more than -10% at $1.23 in a 52-week range of $1.14-$24.99. The stock was hit again this morning on the news that Arch Coal Inc. (NYSE: ACI) is shuttering some of its coal operations.

Paul Ausick