Market Resilient After Monday's Rally

• By the tickerspy.com Staff
• On 4:50 pm EST, Tuesday November 10, 2009

Following yesterday's rally it would not have been surprising if stocks had succumbed to profit taking today, but the market showed resilience. There is a lot of talk going around now about how much longer the rally has to run and whether it could end badly. No one can predict how a rally will unwind, only that rallies eventually do run out of gas, but the fact stocks largely held their ground is a good sign for investors for the near term.

The Dairy Product Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Synutra Intl (Nasdaq: SYUT - News) with a 6% gain.

Stocks ended mixed, with the Dow up 0.2% to 10,247. The Nasdaq inched down -0.1% to 2,151, while the S&P remained flat at 1,093. Oil slipped -38 cents to $79.05 a barrel, while gold moved up $1.10 to reach $1,102.50 an ounce.

On the economic front, the National Association of Realtors stated that home prices fell in 80% of U.S. cities during the third quarter to a median price of $177,900. Home sales, meanwhile, reached a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.3 million, up from 4.76 million in Q2.

In earnings news, shares of Beazer Homes USA (NYSE: BZH - News) surged 8.7% after the company posted a better-than-expected Q4 profit. For the period ended September 30th, the homebuilder earned $33.8 million, or 84 cents a share, compared to a loss of -$473.9 million, or -$12.29 a share, last year. Adjusted EPS came in at 87 cents, blowing away analyst estimates of a loss of -$1.24. Revenue dropped -42% to $376.3 million from $649.8 million, while the company's gross profit margin increased to 6.6% from -0.7% a year ago.

Engineering company Fluor (NYSE: FLR - News) reported today that its Q3 earnings missed analyst estimates and it also lowered its 2009 outlook. The stock fell -7.6%. For the third quarter, net income fell to $162 million, or 89 cents per share, from $182 million, or $1.00 per share, a year ago. Wall Street was looking for EPS of 90 cents. Revenue slipped -4% to $5.42 billion. For 2009, Fluor forecasted EPS of $3.75-$3.90, down from a previous range of $3.80-$4.10. Analysts were expecting EPS of 3.85. For 2010, the company guided for EPS of $3.20-$3.60 compared to the consensus of $3.58. 23 Pro investors counted the stock among their top-15 holdings at the start of Q3.

Shares of Tyco International (NYSE: TYC - News) declined -1.5% on news the company's Q4 profit tumbled -53%. For the quarter ended September 23rd, Tyco earned $205 million, or 43 cents per share, down from $434 million, or 91 cents per share, a year earlier. Ex-items, adjusted EPS came in at 61 cents, beating the consensus by 7 cents. Revenue dove -16% to $4.42 billion from $5.28 billion. Nearly 30 Pro investors counted the stock among their top-15 holdings at the start of Q3. Diana Shipping (NYSE: DSX - News) saw its shares rise 1.6% despite the company announcing that its Q3 profit fell by half due to low charter hire rates for its ships. For Q3, the dry bulk carrier earned $28.7 million, or 36 cents per share, topping the consensus target by 2 cents. This was down from $57.6 million, or 77 cents per share, last year. Voyage and time charter revenue fell -33% to $58.2 million. The company said it expects delivery of a capesize vessel in February 2010 and plans to buy more over the next two years.

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