Stocks Set New Weekly Lows

• By the tickerspy.com Staff
• On 4:53 pm EDT, Thursday September 24, 2009

Stocks dipped for a second day, as commodity prices fell sharply due largely to the U.S. dollar showing some strength today. Weaker-than-expected housing sales didn't help as well. Given the backdrop, it wasn't a terrible day, as stocks continue to be resilient. Still, we continue to remain cautious in the near term, and, in general, would look for more of a pullback before dedicating a significant amount of new capital to this market.

The Auto Part Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies Worldwide (Nasdaq: QTWW - News) with a 20% gain.

Stocks ended the day lower, with the Dow off -41 points to 9,707. The S&P fell -10 points to 1,051, while the Nasdaq dropped -24 points to 2,108. Oil dove -$3.08 to $65.89 a barrel, while gold slipped -$15.50 to $998.90 an ounce.

Topping today's economic news, the Labor Department announced that weekly jobless claims fell to 530,000, better than the 550,000 claim economists were expecting. Elsewhere, the National Association of Realtors said sales dropped -2.7% month over month in August to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.1 million. Economists were expecting a rate of 5.35 million.

In earnings news, home goods retailer Bed Bath & Beyond (Nasdaq: BBBY - News) reported earnings of $135.5 million, or 52 cents per share, up 14% from $119.3 million, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.3% to $1.92 billion, as same-store sales dipped -0.6%. Analysts were looking for EPS of 48 cents on sales of $1.87 billion. The company said analyst estimates for Q3 earnings of 38 cents a share and $1.79 a share for the full year were reasonable and that same-store sales should be "relatively flat to slightly positive" for Q3 and Q4. The stock fell -3.3%. Eighteen Pro investors counted the stock among their top-15 holdings at the start of Q3.

Spice maker McCormick (NYSE: MKC - News) saw its fiscal Q3 profit climb 9% to $75.1 million, or 57 cents per share, versus $68.6 million, or 52 cents per share, a year ago. Sales inched up 1% to $791.7 million. The consensus was for EPS of 54 cents on sales of $801.4 million. Looking forward, the company raised the low end of its full-year EPS guidance by 2 cents and now expects EPS of $2.26-$2.28 for 2009. The stock dipped -2.5%.

Greeting card maker and retailer American Greetings (NYSE: AM - News) announced Q2 earnings of $23.1 million, or 59 cents per share, compared with $2.3 million, or 5 cents a share, the same period last year. Adjusted EPS was 40 cents, well ahead of Wall Street estimates of 6 cents. Sales dropped -8% to $356.4 million. The stock soared 29.3%. One Pro investor counted the stock among its top-15 holdings at the start of Q3.

Shares of 3Com (Nasdaq: COMS - News) rose 5.9% after the network equipment maker posted a fiscal Q1 profit ahead of Wall Street estimates. For the quarter, the company recorded net income of $7.5 million, or 2 cents a share, down sharply from $79.8 million, or 20 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted EPS came in at 8 cents. Revenue tumbled -15% to $290.5 million. Analysts were looking for EPS of 5 cents on sales of $278.2 million.

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