Stocks in the news: GM, F, RIMM, GS, BAC, C, ORCL, XOM, SIRI, PALM ...

Posted Dec 19th 2008 8:17AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Analyst Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Deals, Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Sirius Satellite Radio (SIRI), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Citigroup Inc. (C), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Bank of America (BAC), Chevron Corp (CVX), Research in Motion (RIMM), Goldman Sachs Group (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS), Oracle Corp (ORCL), BP p.l.c. ADS (BP), Palm Inc (PALM), Wells Fargo (WFC)

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) and Chrysler will be in focus today as the Bush administration, convinced the economy could not withstand the demise of Detroit's Big Three, is looking at "orderly" bankruptcy to keep them from collapsing. The decision, they say, on helping the auto industry could come as early as Friday. GM shares are up 14%, Ford's up 8% in premarket trading (8:06 am).

Research In Motion Ltd. (NASDAQ: RIMM) reported third-quarter earnings in line with estimates, but surprised investors with a better-than-expected forecast for the current quarter due to strong demand for the new BlackBerry devices. Despite that, RIMM shares are trading about 1% lower in premarket.

Japanese electronic company Panasonic said it would acquire its rival Sanyo for up to $9 billion. The deal will be done through a public tender offer after top shareholders, including Goldman Sachs, agreed to the takeover.

Standard & Poor's lowered the credit ratings and outlooks for 12 major U.S. and European banks Friday, including Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS), Bank of America (NYSE: BAC), Citigroup (NYSE: C), JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM), Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC). S&P said the causes for the downgrades are increased industry risk and a deepening economic slowdown.

Oracle Corp. (NASDAQ: ORCL) reported earnings in line with estimates late Thursday and issued a brighter forecast than Wall Street expected. Oracle blamed some of the weakness in its number on a strengthening dollar. ORCL shares are trading 2.4% higher in premarket.

Oil continued to decline overnight, dropping $2 to below $34 a barrel. No doubt, some oil producers will continue to feel the pressure on their shares, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM), BP (NYSE: BP), Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and others.

Sirius XM (NASDAQ: SIRI) shareholders voted in favor two amendments to increase the number of shares and to do a reverse stock split to support the price and avoid delisting, as well as pay down some debt. Sirius also announced a 22% work force cut. SIRI shares are trading 3.7% higher in premarket.

Palm Inc. (NASDAQ: PALM) shares are down over 18% in premarket trading after late Thursday reporting a wider net loss for the second quarter, hurt by a one-time tax charge and lower sales.

Tags: bac, bp, c, cvx, f, gm, gs, inthenews, jpm, ms, orcl, palm, panasonic, rimm, sanyo, siri, wfc, xom

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-19-2008 @ 8:46PM

Mary said...

I cannot believe Rick Wagoner (GM-CEO) described him and his team of executives as the best management team in the country. Is his ego big or what? Shares went from $64 when he took over as CEO to less than $5 today. That to me does not sound like good management. Also, what is with all the men. Women are the primary buyer of new cars. Why are they still living in the 1950's? Statistics show that companies that have a more diverse workforce are 65% more productive than companies without diversity. Maybe that is GM's main problem. Overpaid men that participate in groupthink with no fresh ideas or perspectives.