This was a long and crazy week for stock traders, but the Bond weasels got Monday off and only had a four-day work week. Thursday was the mystery tank day when the beleaguered tech stocks dove, only to recover Friday. PPI came in on a nominal basis at +1.1% instead of the +0.4% estimate, but when you look at core PPI without food and energy you only had a +0.1% read in September.
Here were the top stories of the week, sorry if itn’t kept to only 10.
Baidu.com (NASDAQ:BIDU)…… Traded north of $350.00 after a move that just wouldn’t quit, only to tank Thursday down to $300-ish and see a Friday recovery after Jim Cramer gave a $500.00 figure for conjecture. Here we posted some lessons from the dot.com bubble days. Chinese stock craziness didn’t end.
BEA Systems (NASDAQ:BEAS) got a $17.00 buyout offer from Larry Ellison & Co. or Orcale for some $17.00 per share in cash and then rejected it as undervalued.
McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD) raised guidance again. What a story.
Citigroup’s (NYSE:C) Chuck Prince fired management, but he didn’t fire himself ahead of Monday’s earnings.
https://a673b.bigscoots-temp.com/banking-finance/2007/10/12/why-citi-c-cant/
Deutsche Bank cut Citi to a SELL rating.
24/7 Wall St. took the heads and the tails sides of the General Electric (NYSE:GE) earnings report, and McIntyre’s "tails" appears to have won the better call. GE may also unload NBC Universal, but not until after the 2008 Olympics.
Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS) is having some serious Halo-envy as it made an $800 million acquisition.
No wonder Jim Cramer was happy all week, besides getting one day off for the CNBC Republican Presidential Debate….. His TheStreet.com (NASDAQ:TSCM) rose to seven-year highs.
Virgin Mobile (NYSE:VM) of billionaire Richard Branson made its IPO debut.
Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT) sales were not good, but it cut costs amply and raised EPS targets. Now that the market has stopped treating this as a grwoth stock, the earnings story is the focus. Costco (NASDAQ:COST) posted better than expected sales.
Microsft (NASDAQ:MSFT) wants to go after VMware’s (NYSE:VMW) dominance in virtualization, but it wont be ready until later in 2008. The big deal in VMware breaking $100 we gave some projected valuations even if you put the upside surprise on top of the expected growth rates.
Boeing (NYSE:BA) delayed the launch of the Dreamliner by another 6 months, and its suppliers got hit harder than the aerospace, defense, and jet maker itself.
Valero (NYSE:VLO) warned that feedstocks were killing margins and it gave an earnings warning, butthe stock rallied.
eBay (NASDAQ:EBAY) launched its own social networking site, and the reviews are not that encouraging with a "doomed to fail" consensus from our circles.
Jon C. Ogg
October 12, 2007
Jon Ogg produces the 24/7 Wall St. Special Situation Investing Newsletter; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.
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