Stocks in the news: GM, F, BA, MSFT, YHOO, GS, C, BIG, YUM, GES ...

Posted Dec 5th 2008 8:25AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Analyst Reports, Deals, Microsoft (MSFT), Yahoo! (YHOO), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), McDonald's (MCD), Citigroup Inc. (C), Boeing Co (BA), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Yum Brands (YUM), Novell Inc (NOVL), Burger King Hldgs (BKC), Analyst Initiations

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler CEOs will be back on Capitol Hill for a second day of testimony as they continue to press for a $34 billion government bailout. GM's Wagoner told lawmakers he would accept strict conditions, including a promise to return the money and file for bankruptcy if his company doesn't fulfill the terms. GM and Chrysler also said on Thursday they would be open to a merger if the U.S. government mandated it. On a lighter note, the auto industry bailout received support from an unlikely source -- Jon Stewart on The Daily Show explains why he supports it.

Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA) may again delay deliveries for the 787 Dreamliner at least six more months, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. This would be the fifth delay and first deliveries of the jet may not occur until as late as summer 2010. BA shares traded 3% lower in premarket (8:06 am).

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) on Thursday named a former Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) executive, Qi Lu, to

the position of president of the online services group as it attempts to catch up to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) on that front. Apparently, this appointment has been rumored for months. Also, a possible runner-up for the YHOO CEO position has moved to MSFT to head the company's advertiser and publisher solutions group. YHOO shares were 1.8% lower in premarket trade (8:07 am).

Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) gets hit these days with one lowered estimate after another. This time, Morgan Stanley widened its fourth-quarter loss estimate on the investment bank -- turned commercial bank -- to a loss of $4.45 a share for the quarter, compared with his prior view of a loss of $1.09. GS shares lost 1.8% in premarket trade (8:12 am).

Citigroup Inc, (NYSE: C), in its bid to sell assets to get more cash on its books, sold its Citibank Germany to French mutual bank CM-CIC for 5.2 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in cash, giving it an after-tax gain of some $4.0 billion on the disposal. C shares traded 1.3% lower in premarket (8:15 am).

In brief:
Guess?, Inc. (NYSE: GES) reported a stronger-than-forecast profit.
Big Lots (NYSE: BIG) posted lower profit and cut outlook. BIG shares plummeted 14% in premarket (8:14 am).
Novell Inc. (NASDAQ: NOVL) reported fourth-quarter loss. NOVL shares gained 4.6% in premarket (8:16 am).

Citigroup initiated several restaurants Burger King (NYSE: BKC) with Buy, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD) and YUM! Brands (NYSE: YUM) with Hold. YUM! also forecast on Thursday 2009 earnings per share growth of at least 10% and backed its 2008 earnings forecast.

Tags: ba, big, bkc, c, f, ges, gm, gs, inthenews, mcd, msft, novl, yhoo, yum