The Wall Street Journal-20080215-Claiborne- UBS Fall- Hertz Rises

Return to: The_Wall_Street_Journal-20080215

Claiborne, UBS Fall; Hertz Rises

Full Text (466  words)

UBS slid after posting a loss for the year, Liz Claiborne declined after cutting its profit projections and Comcast rallied on word of a dividend.

The continued fallout from subprime mortgages cast a pall on the financial sector. UBS dropped $3.05, or 8.3%, to $33.94. The Swiss banking giant, Europe's worst-hit bank in the U.S. subprime mortgage crisis, offered a bleak outlook for 2008 as it confirmed more than $18 billion in write-downs on investments gone bad. That news rippled through the rest of the financial sector.

Goldman Sachs Group declined 3.62, or 2%, to 176.56; and Morgan Stanley lost 61 cents, or 1.4%, to 42.62.

Concerns about the economy and the widening impact of the credit crunch took a toll on the market. "There is continued concern over the outlook for the bond insurance companies," said Tony Dwyer, equity market strategist at FTN Midwest Securities. The market had no positive news to push it higher after a couple days of gains, he said.

Liz Claiborne fell 4.12, or 18%, to 18.31. The apparel maker and retailer cut its 2007 earnings forecast and said it expects weakness to continue this year.

Diageo climbed 3.38, or 4.1%, to 85. The producer of Guinness stout, Smirnoff vodka and Johnnie Walker Scotch reported first-half earnings rose 9% and affirmed its estimate for the full year.

Class A common shares of Comcast (Nasdaq) rose 1.43, or 8%, to 19.24. The company revealed plans to pay its first dividend in nearly a decade and gave a timeline to repurchase nearly $7 billion in stock.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber rose 1.87, or 7.4%, to 27.19. The tire maker swung to a fourth-quarter profit as sales climbed.

ValueClick (Nasdaq) rose 57 cents, or 2.6%, to 22.25. The Internet- advertising-service provider said fourth-quarter revenue increased 14% to $183.1 million from $160.4 million, helped by results from acquired companies. The company also agreed to settle a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission.

Nvidia (Nasdaq) fell 4.41, or 16%, to 22.61. The chip maker said it expects operating costs to increase in the next quarter, and despite posting higher-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings.

Hertz Global Holdings, the parent of car rental company Hertz, climbed 73 cents, or 5.4%, to 14.15. Avis Budget Group, a small-cap car rental company, reported earnings that beat analysts' expectations.

Amkor Technology (Nasdaq) rose 1.27, or 14%, to 10.67. The semiconductor-assembly and test-services provider said fourth-quarter net income climbed to $93.7 million, or 46 cents a share, from $59 million, or 30 cents a share, a year earlier, boosted in part by stronger-than-expected demand for high-end wireless communications and computing and gaming applications.

Fidelity National Information Services fell 2.10, or 4.9%, to 40.60. The financial data processing company put first-quarter and 2008 earnings below Wall Street estimates.

---

Katharina Bart contributed to this article.