On Monday, stocks inched higher, but throughout the session it was obvious that worries over international tensions were keeping buyers in check.
Oil futures had a solid gain of 1.6%, closing at $53.08 per barrel. The gain was attributed to a U.S. missile attack on a Syrian airbase and the “turnaround” of a carrier fleet with a new heading to North Korean waters. Rumors spread of Chinese troops heading for the North Korean border, but the report could not be confirmed.
The shortened week, due to Good Friday, will still have some noteworthy earnings: Citigroup Inc (NYSE:C), JPMorgan Chase & Co (NYSE:JPM), and Delta Air Lines, Inc. (NYSE:DAL) are expected to report Q1.
Despite the international tensions, gold fell 0.3% to $1,251.10 per ounce.
At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 2 points at 20,658, the S&P 500 gained 2, as well, with a close at 2,357, the Nasdaq rose 3 points at 5,881, and the Russell 2000 closed at 1,367 for a gain of 3 points. The NYSE’s primary exchange traded 661 million shares with total volume of 2.7 billion shares, and the Nasdaq crossed 1.6 billion shares. On the Big Board, advancers outpaced decliners by 2.1-to-1, and on the Nasdaq, decliners led by a small margin. Blocks on the NYSE fell to 5,438 from 6,168 on Friday.
investment manager: FEI Company(FEIC)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
FEI Company (NASDAQ: FEIC) shares were also up, gaining 14 percent to $108.00 as the company agreed to be acquired by Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) for $4.2 billion.
investment manager: Connecticut Water Service, Inc.(CTWS)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Friday afternoon, utilities shares gained 0.14 percent. Meanwhile, top gainers in the sector included Artesian Resources Corporation (NASDAQ: ARTNA), and Connecticut Water Service Inc (NASDAQ: CTWS).
investment manager: Aquinox Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(AQXP)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lee Jackson]
The Baker Brothers biotech hedge fund bought a block of 398,062 shares of Aquinox Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: AQXP) last week. At a per-shareprice of $17.18, the total for the trade came to$6,836,813.
investment manager: Oshkosh Corporation(OSK)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Rich Smith]
I first named Oshkosh my top stock pick back in September, when the stock cost $42 and change. Since then, the stock has gone down, and sells for $3 less. So am I supposed to dislike Oshkosh stock now?
No. To the contrary, I like it even more. (About $3 more, in fact).
You see, even in the process of picking Oshkosh back then, I warned investors: "I don’t know whether Oshkosh will be the best-performing stock in the world in the month of September, but I’ve got a strong hunch about the next six months." And that hunch remains — because the facts have not changed.
This past summer, Oshkosh was named the winner of the Pentagon’s contract to build a next-gen "Humvee" — an armored Joint Light Tactical Vehicle that will serve the U.S. military for decades to come. Oshkosh won an initial award to produce 17,000 vehicles for $6.7 billion. Ultimately, though, this is a contract that could swell to $30 billion or more for production, maintenance, and upgrade of approximately 55,000 JLTVs across all military branches.
So why hasn’t Oshkosh stock moved in response to the contract? Mainly because rival bidderLockheed Martin threw a monkey wrench into the contracts process, first protesting the JLTV award to Oshkosh, and then, when that protest was rejected, filing suit in court to try to win the contract away from its rival.
Personally, I think Lockheed Martin will lose that suit as well. After all, Lockheed’s forte is in fighter jets, while Oshkosh is the military’s premier supplier of trucks like JLTV, as well as the Army’s M-ATV vehicle (a small, all-terrain MRAP). Perhaps recognizing this, AM General, the other company that bid against Oshkosh on JLTV and lost, declined to protest the award. Lockheed took the other road, but I expect it will be a dead end for Lockheed as well.
- [By Shanthi Rexaline]
The six companies that met the criterion are:
Oshkosh Corp (NYSE: OSK). Phillips 66 (NYSE: PSX). SpartanNash Co (NASDAQ: SPTN). Suncor Energy Inc. (USA) (NYSE: SU). Washington Federal Inc. (NASDAQ: WAFD). Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS).
OshkoshOshkosh is a manufacturer of specialty vehicles and vehicle bodies and is based in Wisconsin. The company operates under four business segments, namely access equipment, defense, fire and emergency, and commercial.
- [By WWW.THESTREET.COM]
Oshkosh (OSK) was downgraded to neutral from buy at Bank of America/Merrill Lynch. $62 price target. The valuation is less attractive, as the stock is trading at 21x expected 2017 earnings, analysts said.
investment manager: Nature's Sunshine Products, Inc.(NATR)
Advisors’ Opinion:
- [By Lisa Levin]
Non-cyclical consumer goods & services sector was the top gainer in the US market on Tuesday. Top gainers in the sector included Nature's Sunshine Prod. (NASDAQ: NATR), Bridgford Foods Corporation (NASDAQ: BRID), and SunOpta, Inc. (USA) (NASDAQ: STKL).
