The First Weekly Loss In September

• By the tickerspy.com Staff
• On 4:45 pm EDT, Friday September 25, 2009

The market continued its recent mini-weakness, but once again the downside was pretty muted despite some mixed economic data and investors' disappointment in tech bellwether Research In Motion's (Nasdaq: RIMM - News) earnings and outlook. With the third quarter ending mid-week next week, we'd suspect that fund managers will try to have the market keep most of its year-to-date gains so those Q3 statements look pretty impressive. October could be another story, though. We continue to take a relatively cautious, conservative view on the market in the near term.

The Coffee Stocks Index was the top performing tickerspy Index on the day, led by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (Nasdaq: GMCR - News) with a 4% gain.

Stocks closed out the week on a down note, with the Nasdaq leading the way lower, off -0.8%, or -17 points, to 2,091. The Dow fell -42 points to 9,665, while the S&P dipped -6% to 1,044. Oil inched up 13 cents to $66.02 a barrel, while gold slipped -$7.30 to $991.60 an ounce.

In economic news, the Commerce Department announced that durable good orders fell -2.4% last month. Economists were looking for an increase of 0.5%. Separately, the Commerce Department said new home sales rose 0.7% in August versus the 1.6% increase economists were expecting. Elsewhere, consumer sentiment rose to 73.5 in September from 65.7 last month, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers.

Earnings from Research In Motion topped the earnings headlines, as the BlackBerry maker's shares tumbled -17.0% after investors were disappointed with the firm's outlook. For Q2, the company earned $475.6 million, or 83 cents a share, down from $495.5 million, or 86 cents, a year ago. Adjusted EPS of $1.03 was 3 cents above analyst estimates. Revenue jumped 37% to $3.53 billion, but fell just short of the $3.63 billion consensus. For Q3, the company guided for EPS of between $1.00-$1.08 on revenue of $3.60-$3.85 billion versus Wall Street's estimation of EPS of $1.05 on sales of $3.90 billion. Eighty-nine Pro investors counted the stock among their top-15 holdings at the start of Q3.

Shares of KBH Homes (NYSE: KB - News) fell -8.5% after the homebuilder announced a larger quarter loss than expected. For fiscal Q3, the company lost -$66 million, or -87 cents a share, compared to -$144.7 million, or -$1.87 a share, a year earlier. The Wall Street consensus was for a loss of -58 cents. Revenue fell -33% to $458.5 million. Net orders jumped 62% to 2,158, while the average selling price fell -15%.

Finish Line (Nasdaq: FINL - News) shares rose 12.2% after the athletic footwear retailer reported Q2 earnings that met analyst estimates. For the quarter, the company lost -874,000, or -2 cents per share, compared to a profit of $13.1 million, or 24 cents per share, last year. Net income from continuing operations was 21 cents per share, in line with estimates. Revenue dropped -11% to $298.7 million, as same-store sales fell -9.9%. Two Pro investors counted the stock among their top-15 holdings at the start of Q3.

In M&A news, European consumer products giant Unilever (NYSE: UN - News) will purchase the global body care and European detergents units of Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE - News) for 1.28 billion euros, or approximately $1.88 billion. The Sara Lee businesses had sales of 750 million euros and operating earnings of 128 million euros the prior 12 months. Sara Lee said it plans to use the proceeds to buy back $1 billion in stock and to invest in growth. Sara Lee shares rose 6.4%.

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