Jim Cramer Blog

The Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 all closed up on the day, as the Fed started a two-day meeting to decide the direction of interest rates. The Commerce Department announced today that durable goods orders had declined -2.8% for the month of May, much lower than the -1% that economists had expected. Non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, seen as an indicator of business development, dropped -3%, its biggest decline since January, when it went down -4.4%.
Musical equipment retailer Guitar Center (Nasdaq: GTRC) announced that it had agreed to be taken private by an affiliate of Bain Capital Partners LLC. Bain Capital will pay $1.9 billion in cash for the company. The company has been part of many takeover rumors ever since it hired Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) to put itself up for auction. Shareholders will be paid $63 per share, and the deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter. Guitar Center was up 19.8% on the news.
People's United Financial, Inc. (Nasdaq: PBCT), Connecticut's third-largest bank by deposits, has agreed to buy Chittenden Corp. (NYSE: CHZ) in a cash and stock deal worth an estimated $1.9 billion. Current Chittenden Corp. shareholders will be offered a choice of taking stock in People's United or cash for their stock. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008.
Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) announced that it would increase its stock buyback program by $4 billion to $5.5 billion, replacing a previous $1.5 billion program. It also announced that it would increase its quarterly dividend from 10 cents per share to 13 cents per share. Best Buy was up 3.7% on the day.
ConAgra Foods Inc. (NYSE: CAG) announced earnings today with a strong profit that seemed only minimally hurt by a recall of Peter Pan peanut butter. ConAgra Foods reported earnings of $192 million, or 39 cents per share, on revenues of $3.33 billion. The earnings represented a 324% increase over last year's $59.2 million. The stock was up 4.5% on the news.
HanesBrands (NYSE: HBI) announced that it would close nine factories and cut 5,300 jobs. The company will shift some of its manufacturing to Asia and Africa in order to cut costs. The company, maker of Hanes underwear, is attempting to increase its operating profit to between 6-8%. The company has already cut 2,000 jobs this year.
By the BullMarket.com Staff

Labels: BBY, CAG, CHZ, GS, GTRC, HBI, PBCT

Symbol
Name
Last Trade
Change
Volume
Related Info
DDUP
DATA DOMAIN, INC.
23.24 1:57PM ET
8.24 (54.93%)
5,077,721

USEY
US ENERGY SYSTEMS
1.3200 1:55PM ET
0.2900 (28.16%)
1,102,718

SCOR
COMSCORE, INC.
20.82 1:57PM ET
4.32 (26.18%)
4,577,440

CHZ
CHITTENDEN CP
34.99 1:52PM ET
6.75 (23.90%)
2,496,500

SRDX
SURMODICS INC
44.82 1:57PM ET
7.46 (19.97%)
625,528

VRNM
VERENIUM CORPORATION
5.32 1:56PM ET
0.94 (21.56%)
665,183

GTRC
GUITAR CENTER INC
59.94 1:57PM ET
9.88 (19.73%)
5,468,473

SPRD
SPREADTRUM COMMUNICA
16.46 1:58PM ET
2.46 (17.57%)
4,975,385

UNF
UNIFIRST CP
46.94 1:52PM ET
6.44 (15.90%)
279,100

SPEC
SPECTRUM CONTROL I
15.95 1:56PM ET
2.08 (15.00%)
1,072,853

WWWW
WEB.COM INC
6.12 1:54PM ET
0.77 (14.39%)
434,792

COIN
CONVERTED ORGANICS
3.34 12:59PM ET
0.40 (13.50%)
25,477

APOG
APOGEE ENTRPR INC
28.29 1:57PM ET
3.09 (12.26%)
962,791


WRSP
WORLDSPACE INC
5.31 1:55PM ET
0.60 (12.74%)
395,459

PARL
PARLUX FRAGRANCE
4.98 1:56PM ET
0.57 (12.93%)
1,055,432
FUL
FULLER H B CO
30.72 1:52PM ET
3.33 (12.16%)
1,251,900

CPWM
COST PLUS INC (CA)
8.62 1:58PM ET
0.89 (11.51%)
541,239
CBAK
CHINA BAK BATTERY
3.83 1:56PM ET
0.41 (11.99%)
1,094,271

DGSE
DGSE COMPANIES INC
3.61 1:38PM ET
0.31 (9.39%)
53,971

NBF
NOVA BIOSOURCE FUELS
2.80 1:51PM ET
0.33 (13.36%)
1,221,500

Labels: APOG, CBAK, CHZ, COIN, CPWM, DDUP, DGSE, FUL, GTRC, NBF, PARL, SCOR, SPEC, SPRD, SRDX, UNF, USEY, VRNM, WRSP, WWWW

Amcol International Corp. (NYSE:ACO - News) said its fourth-quarter income from continuing operations rose to $12 million, or 39 cents a share, from $8.4 million, or 27 cents, a year earlier. The Arlington Heights, Ill., company said sales rose 16% to $155.9 million for from $134.6 million. The average earnings estimate of five analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call was 34 cents.
Applera Corp.-Celera Genomics Group (NYSE:CRA - News) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Piper Jaffray. The firm also lifted its price target on the stock to $16 from $14.
Briggs & Stratton (NYSE:BGG - News) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Raymond James.
Callaway Golf Co. (NYSE:ELY - News) said it expects preliminary 2006 sales of $1.02 billion, with earnings of 33 cents to 35 cents a share. Excluding charges, the golf-products company sees a per-share profit of 50 to 52 cents.
Capital One (NYSE:COF - News) reported a 39% jump in fourth-quarter net income. The results, as well as the credit-card and banking company's 2007 forecast, fell short of Wall Street expectations.
Crown Castle International Corp. (NYSE:CCI - News) agreed to repurchase about 17.7 million common shares for $600 million cash. The Houston-based company said it will buy the shares through a private transaction with Fortress Investment Funds, Greenhill Capital Partners LLC and affiliated funds, and funds affiliated with Abrams Capital LLC.
DaimlerChrysler (NYSE:DCX - News) was upgraded to overweight from equal-weight at Morgan Stanley, which cited the potential for growth at the firm's truck-making division.
Del Monte Foods (NYSE:DLM - News) was upgraded to outperform from peer perform at Bear Stearns.
Easylink Services Corp. (NASDAQ:EASY - News) shares jumped after Internet Commerce (NASDAQ:ICCA - News) said it's offered to buy the company for $5 per share. The proposal represents a premium of about 47% based on Wednesday's closing price for Easylink shares. Including the assumption of $5 million in Easylink debt, the transaction would be worth about $60 million.
Equinix Inc. (NASDAQ:EQIX - News) was initiated with an outperform rating at RBC Capital Markets.
ITC Holdings Corp. (NYSE:ITC - News) signed a deal to acquire the transmission assets of Interstate Power & Light Co. from Alliant Energy (NYSE:LNT - News) for about $750 million.
JDSU (NASDAQ:JDSU - News) raised its view for fiscal second-quarter revenue to a range of $360 million to $365 million. Previously, the communications-test-products company had been looking for $332 million to $352 million. JDSU cited its Communications Test & Measurement segment performing "particularly well."
Leapfrog Enterprises (NYSE:LF - News) was upgraded to outperform from market perform at Piper Jaffray. The firm lifted its price target on the stock to $14 from $7, citing significantly improved business prospects.
Logitech (NASDAQ:LOGI - News) was upgraded to buy from hold at Deutsche Bank.
Medifast (NYSE:MED - News) was initiated with a buy rating at BB&T Capital Markets.
Merrill Merchants Bancshares Inc. (NASDAQ:MERB - News) agreed to be acquired by Chittenden Corp. (NYSE:CHZ - News) for about $111.4 million in cash and stock. The deal values Merrill Merchants' shares at $31 each. Chittenden expects the consideration to consist of $44.6 million in cash and 2.2 million common shares. Burlington, Vermont-based Chittenden anticipates the transaction will close in the second quarter. Merrill Merchants, headquartered in Bangor, Maine, had total assets of $449 million as of Dec. 31.

Labels: ACO, BGG, CCI, CHZ, COF, CRA, DCX, DLM, EASY, ELY, EQIX, ICCA, ITC, JDSU, LF, LNT, LOGI, MED, MERB