Stocks in the news: GM, F, AAPL, PFE, AMZN, BBY, MOS, XOM, GE ... (update)

Posted Jan 5th 2009 8:22AM by Melly Alazraki
Filed under: Earnings Reports, Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades, Deals, Apple Inc (AAPL), General Electric (GE), Pfizer (PFE), Amazon.com (AMZN), Ford Motor (F), General Motors (GM), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Toyota Motor Corp. (TM), AT and T (T), Citigroup Inc. (C), Best Buy (BBY), Verizon Communications (VZ), Economic Data

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F), Chrysler and other automakers will report throughout the day December car and truck sales. Overall, sales are expected to decline by 40% with GM sales down 39% and Ford sales down 34% according to Edmunds.com. Chrysler may post a 46% decline in December sales. Also, Nissan Motors (NASDAQ: NSANY) is expected to post a 42% slump, while Toyota Motor Corp. (NYSE: TM) and Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC) are expected to post a 38% decline each. Ford and TM were last traded down 2% in premarket. GM is the only automaker whose stock was trading higher -- over 3% -- by 11:10 am.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) is expected to unveil new products at Macworld in San Francisco today. While no major breakthroughs or new products are expected to be unveiled -- especially not when compared to the iPhone's unvailing -- there might still be some product improvements and new versions of existing products. The focus though is probably still be the fact that Apple CEO Steve Jobs will not be giving the keynote speech and why that is. [Update: Steve Jobs has sent a letter to the Apple community, explaining he suffers from a hormone imbalance that caused his weight loss. The remedy is simple he says and commits to telling Apple's board if he ever feels he cann't function as CEO.] Following Jobs' announcement AAPL shares gained and were up over 4% by 11:10 am.

Pfizer Inc. (NYSE: PFE) CEO Jeff Kindler said in an interview with the Financial Times that the company is willing to buy a large rival. This may trigger a fresh round of mergers within pharmas and put the sector in focus today.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE: XOM) may be also in focus today after some believe that it could use its massive pile of money -- $40 billion -- to buy another company. For example, it could purchase at a nearly 60% premium, in cash, for every share of its next largest competitor - Royal Dutch Shell (NYSE: RDS.A). Still, shares of large oil companies were under pressure this morning, moving with oil prices.

Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) is expected to report second-quarter earnings of $1.41 a share, according to FactSet Research survey of analysts. MOS shares were over 4% higher by 11:10 am ahead of the earnings report.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades:

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) was upgraded by J.P. Morgan to Overweight from Neutral, as the broker expects the Internet book seller to increase market share in e-commerce. AMZN shares were 1.5% higher in premarket. Despite the upgrade, AMZN shares traded 1% lower by 11:10 am.
Best Buy Co. Inc. (NYSE: BBY) was upgraded at Goldman Sachs from Neutral to Buy. BBY shares were 3.2% higher in premarket. BBY shares were 3.3% higher by 11:10 am.
AT&T (NYSE: T) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) were both downgraded at Bernstein from Market Perform to Underperform. Shares of both were 2% lower in premarket. T shares fell nearly 4% and VZ shares skidded over 5.6% by 11:10 am.
Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C)'s expected 2009 loss estimate was widened by Deutsche Bank. Despite the broker's estimate Citi's shares gained over 4% by 11:10 am.
General Electric (NYSE: GE) declined today after an analyst said he expects GE's triple-A credit rating or dividend to be cut this year.