Before the Bell: McDonald's Rises
May 21
— NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. rose almost 7 percent in pre-open trade on Wednesday, a day after it posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street forecasts and said it was on track to meet analysts' consensus estimates for the second half of its fiscal year.
Shares of H-P, the No. 2 computer company behind IBM, rose to $18.26 on the Instinet electronic brokerage system from Tuesday's close of $17.05.
Shares of McDonald's Corp. rose to $17.35 in pre-open trade from Tuesday's close of $16.95. Lehman Brothers said on Wednesday it raised its rating on McDonald's to "overweight" from "equal weight." Shares in major hamburger chains including McDonald's fell sharply on Tuesday after Canada said it had confirmed a case of mad cow disease.
Cisco Systems Inc. shares fell to $15.86 in pre-open trade from Tuesday's close of $15.99. DB Securities said on Wednesday it cut Cisco Systems, the No. 1 maker of equipment that directs Internet traffic, to "hold" from "buy" on valuation.
Shares of Alcoa Inc. also rose in pre-open trade on Wednesday to $22.65 on Instinet from Tuesday's close of $22.15 after JP Morgan said early on Wednesday that it raised Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer, to "overweight" from "neutral" and added the stock to its U.S. Focus List.
Standard & Poor's 500 stock index futures for June were off 2.30 points at 917.00, while Nasdaq futures for the same month were off 2.50 points at 1,116.
Copyright 2003 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
May 21
— NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares of Hewlett-Packard Co. rose almost 7 percent in pre-open trade on Wednesday, a day after it posted quarterly results that topped Wall Street forecasts and said it was on track to meet analysts' consensus estimates for the second half of its fiscal year.
Shares of H-P, the No. 2 computer company behind IBM, rose to $18.26 on the Instinet electronic brokerage system from Tuesday's close of $17.05.
Shares of McDonald's Corp. rose to $17.35 in pre-open trade from Tuesday's close of $16.95. Lehman Brothers said on Wednesday it raised its rating on McDonald's to "overweight" from "equal weight." Shares in major hamburger chains including McDonald's fell sharply on Tuesday after Canada said it had confirmed a case of mad cow disease.
Cisco Systems Inc. shares fell to $15.86 in pre-open trade from Tuesday's close of $15.99. DB Securities said on Wednesday it cut Cisco Systems, the No. 1 maker of equipment that directs Internet traffic, to "hold" from "buy" on valuation.
Shares of Alcoa Inc. also rose in pre-open trade on Wednesday to $22.65 on Instinet from Tuesday's close of $22.15 after JP Morgan said early on Wednesday that it raised Alcoa, the world's largest aluminum producer, to "overweight" from "neutral" and added the stock to its U.S. Focus List.
Standard & Poor's 500 stock index futures for June were off 2.30 points at 917.00, while Nasdaq futures for the same month were off 2.50 points at 1,116.
Copyright 2003 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
