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Stocks Push Higher on Holiday Volume
Stocks continue to show resilience, though today's light volume isn't much of an indicator of the market's underlying strength. With the bond markets and many government offices closed for Veteran's Day, trading desks reported light activity. The market did get a lift late in the day from an upbeat forecast from high-end home builder Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL - News). Everyone should be back in the trading saddle on Thursday.
The Semiconductor Fabricator Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (NYSE: SMI - News) with a 60% gain.
Stocks ended modestly higher, with the Dow edging up 0.4% to 10,291. The Nasdaq was up 0.7% to 2,167, and the S&P was up by 0.5% to 1,099. Oil slipped -23 cents to $79.28 a barrel, while gold was higher at $1,114.50 an ounce.
In earnings news, department store chain Macy's (NYSE: M - News) lost -$35 million, or -8 cents per share, in the quarter ended October 31st, narrower than the -$44 million, or -10 cents per share, it lost a year ago. Excluding costs related to an internal reorganization, the loss was just -3 cents per share, better than the -7-cent loss analysts were expecting. However, investors were unimpressed by Macy's full-year guidance - an EPS range of $1 to $1.06 versus the consensus of $1.11 - and pushed shares lower by -8%.
Recent battery tech IPO A123 Systems (Nasdaq: AONE - News) posted its first quarterly report as a publicly traded firm. The company lost -$22.9 million, or -$1.78 per share, in the third quarter, compared with -$18.9 million, or -$2.06 per share, a year ago. Concerns that Chrysler may be scaling back its electric vehicle plans weighed on the stock and shares moved lower by -6%.
Private label food maker Ralcorp (NYSE: RAH - News) reported earnings of $79.9 million, or $1.40 per share, well up from $41.1 million, or 90 cents per share, a year earlier. The adjusted quarterly profit of $1.14 per share, however, came in below the analyst consensus of $1.24 per share. The profits came on sales of $983.2 million, up 13% from $873.5 million a year ago, but short of the analysts' expectation of $1.1 billion. The company attributed the sales growth to its acquisition of the Post cereals business from Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT - News) last year.
The diet food business Weight Watchers International (NYSE: WTW - News) posted solid earnings, with EPS of 68 cents on sales of $324.5 million versus the consensus estimate of EPS of 64 cents on sales of $318.2 million. However, fourth quarter guidance for EPS of 48-53 cents fell short of analysts' forecasts for earnings of 57 cents a share. The stock fell by -3.6%
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