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CNN Money Morning
A.M. Market Call: Hines and Neiman Marcus to Post Earnings Today
Aired September 11, 2001 - 06:36 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Time now for today's "A.M. Market Call." Let's begin with our stock senator, Jennifer Westhoven, who is at the Instinet trading floor in Times Square -- Westy, what's up?
JENNIFER WESTHOVEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Jack.
Well, you were talking before about the two companies that are expected to post earnings today. They are, of course, Hines and Neiman Marcus. So that one of the things you want to look out for. Not too many earnings reports this week.
The other thing we're going to watch out for is today a warning from Allied Waste last night after the closing bell. Not really the kind of thing that can take on the market, which of course, you can tell by the futures, but also because it is in the garbage hauling industry, which is generally, you know, not the kind of thing that moves the market, but also in an area that has seen some weakness before. So that's one we're going to watch out for. That stock was down 7 percent last night -- Allied Waste.
And the other thing I want to bring up is that two big health care related companies, Pfizer and United Health, have said that they back their 2001 and 2002 targets going forward.
And the reason that I bring this up is because it's a good example of how that Regulation SD changes things. Now, companies will say what they are going to say before they go to conferences. It used to be that sometimes these company's executives would appear at conferences and with analysts -- would make comments about their futures, sometimes warnings or sometimes saying that revenues would be even better than expected. And it was the kind of thing that frequently institutional investors had access to before the small investor.
But with the new regulations, you both have these two companies, which both have scheduled appearances coming up, coming out and saying, we're going to back those targets. We're not going to say anything different, but we want to make sure that you know. And Pfizer got a little bit of a bounce out of that last night in after- hours trading -- Jack, back to you.
CAFFERTY: All right, thanks -- Jennifer Westhoven at the Instinet trading floor. Let's go across Times Square to Sasha Salama at the Nasdaq marketsite in Times Square.
Yes, I was just thinking -- Michael Jordan is coming back to the NBA -- right -- but he's a little older.
SASHA SALAMA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right.
CAFFERTY: A whole new list of endorsement possibilities. I mean, Depends, Polygrip -- right -- I mean...
SALAMA: Oh, come on. He's not that old.
CAFFERTY: ... think of the money he could take in. I mean...
SALAMA: Oh, come on.
CAFFERTY: ... huh?
SALAMA: He's not that old.
CAFFERTY: He's not?
SALAMA: No.
CAFFERTY: OK.
SALAMA: You know who visited the Nasdaq yesterday -- I meant to tell you: Billie Jean King.
CAFFERTY: Oh, I -- you know, we were talking about Venus Williams was going to be there, and then I read in the office as soon as we got off of the air that the thing was cancelled...
SALAMA: They cancelled -- right.
CAFFERTY: ... a scheduling conflict or something. So Billie Jean came down -- right?
SALAMA: Yes, she did. And...
CAFFERTY: Yes, it's appropriate after Michael Jackson that Billie Jean would be there.
SALAMA: Jack with the pop culture knowledge. Let me tell you. Yes, it was exciting, it really was. You know...
CAFFERTY: She's older than Michael Jordan.
SALAMA: ... it was right after the U.S. Open. Well, you know what? She is really one of the pioneers in women's sports.
CAFFERTY: Yes, she's a nice lady too.
SALAMA: It was thrilling to have her here.
CAFFERTY: I used to interview her over on "Live at 5" here in New York -- a local show I did a long time ago.
SALAMA: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Nice lady.
SALAMA: Yes, and she invests.
CAFFERTY: She used to come on the show when she'd be in town for the Open and was, you know, was winning a lot of the championships. And you know, remember that stupid thing she did with Bobby Riggs, and she, you know, the male-female?
SALAMA: The battle of the sexes?
CAFFERTY: And she just kicked his butt.
SALAMA: Yes.
CAFFERTY: And it kind of changed the way a lot of people looked at women's sports. She's a good lady.
SALAMA: Yes, it sure did, and she invests in the market, clearly. She was pretty savvy about what was going on.
And what's going on, in case you didn't know, is folks are awfully worried, seriously, that...
CAFFERTY: Yes, I know.
SALAMA: ... the Nasdaq is going to retest those April lows, although at the same time, they want the market to retest the lows...
CAFFERTY: Yes, there's a school of thinking...
SALAMA: ... to get it out of the way.
CAFFERTY: ... that says they've got to have a washout day. They've got to go down to the lows, everybody throws in the towel.
I was reading something yesterday -- pardon me -- that some of the big mutual fund companies are giving out redemptions now. And that's sometimes the sign that a bottom is very close when people are calling up saying, take me out of the market, cash in my shares. And when they start to redeem shares, they got to sell them, and that takes the market down some more. So I mean, maybe we're beginning to flirt with this cataclysmic event called a -- whatever it is.
SALAMA: Yes.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SALAMA: That's a technical term.
CAFFERTY: Yes.
SALAMA: Meanwhile, those futures actually have a green arrow next to them after the market just eked out a small gain yesterday -- the Nasdaq up 7 to 1695.
Stocks we're watching today include Amazon.com. "The Wall Street Journal" says the online retailer is teaming up with Target to sell goods over the Internet. So we'll be watching that.
Also we've got the specialty chipmakers like Xilinx and Vitesse on the radar screen -- both lost ground yesterday. Both are down in the premarket, even though Xilinx reaffirmed its revenue outlook for the current quarter. It updated Wall Street on conditions after the close yesterday.
And Vitesse says it will miss revenue forecasts for the current quarter. So you'd think Xilinx would get a better reception, but XLNX down 35 cents in the premarket. And Vitesse, which is actually warning, is down 15 cents in the premarket.
A stock that is just getting clobbered in the premarket is Newport -- NEWP -- after losing 7 percent yesterday -- down another $1.50 to $13.25.
Here's the story: First of all, the company makes chip equipment, fiber optic equipment. It slashed its outlook for the second half of 2001. It's looking for breakeven when Wall Street had been looking for a profit of 18 cents a share. Newport also laying off up to 375 workers to get leaner and meaner -- so, Jack, that is what's known as a stock of pain if you're along that stock.
CAFFERTY: Yes, it sure is. There's no shortage of those either. All right, thanks, Sasha.
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