Bulls Charge Ahead Without a Stumble

• By the tickerspy.com Staff
• On 5:22 pm EST, Thursday November 5, 2009

This time, the rally didn't stall as the bulls took charge today and stayed in charge for the entire session. We'll see if tomorrow's payroll report from the Labor Department throws cold water on today's euphoria. With a solid upward trend in the S&P 500 since late in the session Monday, it will be interesting to see if the bulls stay strong tomorrow, or take profits before the weekend.

The Broadcast TV Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Gray Television (NYSE: GTN - News) with a 38% gain.

Stocks had a good day, with the Dow gaining 2.1% to end 6 points above the 10,000 mark. The Nasdaq moved up 2.4% to 2,105 and the S&P rose 1.9% to 1,067. Oil inched down -78 cents to $79.62 a barrel, while gold climbed $2.20 to reach $1,089.50 an ounce.

On the economic front, the Labor Department said that productivity rose 9.5% during the third quarter, much better than the 6.4% gain expected by economists. Separately, it was also announced that claims for jobless benefits dropped by -20,000 last week to a seasonally adjusted 512,000. Analysts had expected 523,000 claims.

In earnings news, shares of CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS - News) plunged -20.1% after the company reported that its pharmacy benefits management unit, Caremark, had lost -$4.8 billion in contracts for next year. For the third quarter, CVS earned $1.02 billion, or 71 cents per share, a 39% jump from $732.5 million, or 50 cents per share, last year. Revenue grew 18% to $24.64 billion. For FY09, CVS narrowed its EPS outlook to $2.61-$2.64 from $2.59-$2.64. Analysts had expected EPS of $2.62. 187 Pro investors counted the stock among their top-15 holdings at the start of Q3.

Casino operator MGM Mirage (NYSE: MGM - News) saw its shares rise 4.5% after the company's Q3 earnings beat analyst estimates. For the quarter ended September 30th, MGM lost -$750.4 million, or -$1.70 per share, compared to a profit of $61.3 million, or 22 cents per share, a year ago. Adjusted EPS came in at a penny, better than the -7 cent loss expected by Wall Street. Revenue dropped -9% to $1.5 billion, while revenue-per-available-room (RevPAR) fell -23%. The company expects to open CityCenter, a 67-acre residential-commercial complex in Las Vegas, in December.

Shares of DIRECTV Group (Nasdaq: DTV - News) rose 6.3% despite missing Q3 estimates. The satellite television operator earned $366 million, or 37 cents a share, up from $363 million, or 33 cents a share, a year earlier. The consensus was for EPS of 39 cents. Revenue increased 10% to $5.47 billion, coming in above estimates of $5.42 billion. The company's free cash flow surged to a record $643 million during the quarter and it bought back $943 million in stock. 31 Pro investors counted the stock among their top-15 holdings at the start of Q3.

Grocer Whole Foods Market (Nasdaq: WFMI - News) said last night after the closing bell that its 2010 EPS outlook of $1.05-$1.10 would miss Wall Street's view of $1.11. The stock fell -15.5% on the news. Net income for Q4 was $28.7 million, or 20 cents per share, versus $1.5 million, or 1 cent per share, in the same period a year ago. This beat analyst predictions of EPS of 18 cents. Sales moved up 2.3% to $1.83 billion, while same-store sales inched down -0.9%.

Fun and informative, tickerspy.com is a free investing website where you can track multiple stock portfolios and compare against 250 proprietary Indexes tracking themes from stem cells to green energy to precious metals. Best of all, tickerspy.com lets you spy on the portfolios of nearly 3,000 Wall Street institutions and hedge funds and see graphs of their performance. Try tickerspy.com today and find out how you stack up against investing legends like Warren Buffett!

Buzz up!