Closing Bell: When an analyst causes the rally (BEAT, SCHW, CIT, DELL, GS, POT)


Today was one of those days that was going to start out soft, but a key analyst upgrade saved the day. There was actually no early economic data, and traders are putting on their pre-earnings trades. Here is a quick look at the earnings previews for this week's key technology stocks and for this week's key financial stocks.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 8,313.92 +167.40 (2.05%)
S&P 500 901.05 +21.92 (2.49%)
Nasdaq 1,793.21 +37.18 (2.12%)

Top Analyst Calls

CardioNet, Inc. (NASDAQ: BEAT) took another beat down. Shares were hammered after Medicare reimbursement cuts were being applied to the company's monitoring tools. The company feels this is worth appeal and grossly unjustified, but it also withdrew all guidance as a result. Shares were down 34% at $5.78 late in the trading day.

Charles Schwab Corp. (NASDAQ: SCHW) was the Barron's cover story this weekend. "Chuck's Big Chance, Chuck in Charge" outlined the positives and the concerns of what lies ahead. Shares were up almost 5% at $17.28 late in the trading day.

CIT Group, Inc. (NYSE: CIT) was pounded again. There are reports that its customers may be at risk, and some even are wondering if a reorganization under bankruptcy is coming. Shares were down by 11% at $1.36 late in the trading day.

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) was given a positive case in Barron's as both a buyer and as a seller in merger and activity land. Yet shares did not participate in the rally today as the stock was down 2% at $12.95 late ion the day. A chartist would note this as potentially significant as it did not rise on the Conviction Buy call from Goldman Sachs either.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
(NYSE: GS) was the true market leader today after Meredith Whitney raised the firm's rating to BUY ahead of Tuesday's earnings. Shares were up 5% at $149.10 late in the trading day.

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (NYSE: POT) was soft most of the day. As shares went into the last hour, the stock was down by 0.3% at $84.83 after one of the Canadian brokerage firms took its target down to $120 from $150 this morning.

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Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA-89.2312,801.23
NASDAQ-23.352,903.88
S&P 500-9.311,342.64

Last updated: February 13, 2012: 05:40 AM

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