Latest News In Stock Market Research – Nov 7, 2008

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BASF to sell 50% stake in fertilizer joint-venture

7 Nov 2008 at 4:26am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — German chemicals group BASF said Friday that it intends to sell its 50% stake in PEC-Rhin, its joint-venture with GPN. The unit employs around 200 staff in Ottmarsheim, France, and produces ammonia, nitric acid and fertilizers. The company said unlike its other fertilizer businesses, the activities in Ottmarsheim are not integrated with other value chains.

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Webster to raise $400 million in capital from Treasury

7 Nov 2008 at 4:19am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Webster Financial Corp. , the holding company for Webster bank, said Friday it has received preliminary approval for $400 million in new capital under the Treasury’s capital purchase program. Webster said it plans to issue up to $400 million in senior preferred shares and provide warrants for up to an additional $60 million in common stock to the Treasury. “While Webster is already well capitalized, we support the Treasury’s objective to ensure that sufficient credit is available for the borrowing needs of consumers and businesses,” said CEO James Smith. The group added the additional capital will also position Webster to pursue opportunities for growth, including potential acquisitions.

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Air Canada reports loss on fuel price rises

7 Nov 2008 at 4:17am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Air Canada said it swung to a third-quarter loss of C$132 million ($110 million) after a 49% rise in fuel expenses, C$93 million mark-to-market losses on fuel hedge contracts and other instruments and a C$87 million loss on foreign currency. Revenue rose to C$3.08 billion from C$2.95 billion and its operating income fell to C$112 million from C$345 million. Forward bookings are tracking in line with announced capacity reductions, it added.

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LifePoint third-quarter net profit fell 60% on charges

7 Nov 2008 at 4:18am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — LifePoint Hospitals, Inc. said third-quarter net income fell 60% to $11.4 million, or 22 cents a share, from $28.2 million, or 49 cents a share, earned in the year-earlier quarter. Adjusted earnings from continuing operations came in at 31 cents a share, in line with consensus forecasts. Sales climbed 5.3% to $675.1 million.

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Verso Paper swings to profit on rising prices

7 Nov 2008 at 4:09am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Verso Paper swung to a third-quarter profit of $18.6 million, or 36 cents a share, with sales rising to $485.4 million from $450.5 million. It lost $25.8 million, or 68 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Rising prices offset a decline in volume, the Memphis coated paper maker said. Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 20 cents a share.

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LSE trades hit record in October, though total value falls

7 Nov 2008 at 3:30am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — The London Stock Exchange said Friday that the total number of trades on its markets in October was a record 29.6 million, up 55% from a year earlier. The total value traded, however, fell 18% to 246.1 billion pounds ($384.6 billion), partly due to the sharp fall in value of U.K. and Italian markets. The group said the total number of U.K. trades rose 68% to 21.4 million, while Italian trades rose 23% to 7 million.

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Volvo cut to underweight at Morgan Stanley

7 Nov 2008 at 2:57am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Morgan Stanley downgraded Swedish truck maker Volvo to underweight from overweight, saying it believes the European truck market is heading into a multi-year downturn, exacerbated by a slowdown in Latin America and the Middle East, while the market is only pricing in a mild slowdown. “We see little prospect of recovery through 2010, absent significantly more restructuring than is already on the table.”

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UBS downgrades Siemens, Alstom on likely fall in orders

7 Nov 2008 at 2:50am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — UBS downgraded Siemens two notches to sell from buy and also cut Alstom to neutral from buy, saying falling commodity prices and the tough lending environment may lead to a sharp fall in orders from power generation customers. UBS said it thinks a cut in Siemens’ 2009 earnings guidance is likely and added 2010 profit expectations look vulnerable unless management significantly steps up restructuring efforts. On Alstom the broker said it still expects solid results in 2009, but has cut its earnings forecast for 2010 by 20% and for 2011 by 46% due to likely falling orders from utilities. It added the credit crisis is particularly bad for European utilities because the sector needs to refinance about half its debt in 2009 and 2010.

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Sanofi-Aventis cut to sell at UBS

7 Nov 2008 at 2:39am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — UBS downgraded Sanofi-Aventis to sell from neutral, citing a more tempered view on the pharmaceuticals sector as a whole and Sanofi’s high exposure to potential generic competition in the coming years. UBS said around 86% of Sanofi’s 2008 sales will be exposed to generic competition by 2014 and added the firm hasn’t launched an important non-vaccines product since 2001. “If the pipeline continues to fail, we see the potential for earnings declines well in excess of consensus expectations,” the broker said.

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Credit Suisse warns of value trap in European oil firms

7 Nov 2008 at 2:28am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Credit Suisse warned of a “value trap” in European oil plays. “Falling earnings and returns make for a weak investment case, in our view,” it said, adding “10 years of the Big Oil model have delivered poor volume growth, lost pricing power, indistinct strategies and the dilution of exciting growth opportunities by a declining mature base.” It downgraded BP and OMV to neutral from outperform and cut Eni and Total to underperform from neutral.

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Siemens wins orders for IEC gas turbine components

7 Nov 2008 at 2:25am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Siemens said it’s won an order worth 200 million euros for components for three gas turbine power plants from the state-owned Israel Electric Corp.

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Panasonic, Sanyo say formal talks on tie up underway

7 Nov 2008 at 1:15am

HONG KONG (MarketWatch) — Panasonic Corp. and Sanyo Electric Co.said Friday they have begun discussions involving a potential tie up between the two firms that could lead to the creation of Japan’s biggest consumer electronics company. Teams will be set up to discuss a capital and business alliance based on making Sanyo a subsidiary of Panasonic, the two firms said in a joint release Friday. An update on the progress of the talks will be released around the end of December, the statement said.

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Europe stocks open higher, led by British Airways, oil firms

7 Nov 2008 at 1:08am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Europe stocks opened higher Friday after two days of bruising losses, paced by gains for major oil producers. British Airways surged 22% after the group’s first-half loss wasn’t as bad as some had feared and Lafarge climbed 6.9% as the firm reported an 8% profit rise. The U.K. FTSE 100 rose 1.6% to 4,338.48, the German DAX 30 added 0.6% to 4,387.88 and the French CAC 40 rose 0.8% to 3,414.64.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.

NYSE Euronext equity trading hit new record in October

7 Nov 2008 at 12:55am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — Exchange operator NYSE Euronext said Friday that it posted record trading levels in both its U.S. and European cash equities businesses in October. European cash markets executed average daily volume of 2.1 million transaction, up around 62% from a year earlier. The U.S. arm saw daily trading volumes rise 79% to 4.8 billion shares. Volumes for the month include trading activity from NYSE Alternext US, formerly the American Stock Exchange. Derivatives volumes were also higher, with the number of futures and options contracts traded on Liffe rising around 37%.

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Lafarge beats expectations, drops earnings target

7 Nov 2008 at 12:41am

LONDON (MarketWatch) — French cement maker Lafarge said Friday that its third-quarter net profit rose 8% to 647 million euros ($836 million) as sales grew 9% to 5.32 billion euros. Analysts had been expecting a profit of 611 million euros, according to a Dow Jones Newswires poll. The group said its priority in the short term is to focus on cash flow generate and cost cutting as it also dropped its 2010 earnings targets citing uncertainty in the current markets. Lafarge said it will cut costs by 400 million euros over three years, including 120 million euros of cuts by the end of 2009. Total capital expenditure will also be limited to around 2 billion euros in 2009 and the group’s divestment program will be expanded beyond the current 1 billion euro target.

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November 07 2008 07:39 am | Stock Market News

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