S&P 500’s Financials Take a Beating

by Jonathan Yates | August 30, 2011 12:19 pm

The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped from its month high with a five-point loss early Tuesday, taking the index to 1,205. Recent reports on housing, consumer confidence and jobs continue to point to weakness in the U.S. economy. Financial stocks were the leading losers for the S&P this morning, mostly because of damage from Hurricane Irene. Declining stocks outnumbered those advancing by more than 2-to-1. The S&P 500 is up more than 5% for the week but down more than 4.7% for the year.

Down almost 4%, or $1 per share, to around $20 was Lincoln National (NYSE:LNC[1]). Flood bills from Hurricane Irene are expected to pile up for Lincoln. For the week, Lincoln Financial is up more than 10%. For the quarter, however, it is down almost 30%.

Zions Bancorporation (NASDAQ:ZION[2]) was off about 40 cents, about 2.2% per share, to under $16.70. Like so many other financials, it has been a good week for Zions, up almost 15%. For the quarter, Zions is down almost 30% and is trading double digits below its 50- and 200-day moving averages.

First Horizon National Corp. (NYSE:FHN[3]) was down about 3% to around $7, dropping more than 20 cents a share. Up almost 15% for the past week, First Horizon is down more than 30% for the quarter. First Horizon is trading double digits beneath its 50- and 200-day moving averages.

PulteGroup (NYSE:PHM[4]) rose to more than $5 per share, picking up about 40 cents for an almost 9% jump. Ticonderoga Securities issued a “buy” for Pulte this morning. Also, expected business from Hurricane Irene and a jump in home prices had Wall Street driving Pultegroup higher. For the week, PulteGroup is up more than 22%, but it’s down almost 40% for the year.

Sprint Nextel (NYSE:S[5]) shot up more than 10 cents to around $3.60 per share, a gain of about 3%. Sprint is up more than 6% for the week but off more than 40% for the quarter because of poor earnings. Sprint was upgraded by Collins Stewart and Stifel Nicolaus this month. Sprint is trading beneath its book value of $4.45 per share.

A leading loser yesterday, JDS Uniphase (NASDAQ:JDSU[6]) was showing the benefit of mean reversion trading, going up about 60 cents, or 5%, to over $12.90 a share. This morning, an “outperform” rating was reaffirmed for JDS Uniphase by RBC Capital Markets. For the week, JDS Uniphase is up almost 25%, but it’s down about 40% for the quarter.

Jonathan Yates does not own any of the stocks mentioned in this article.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2011/08/sp-500-financial-stocks-lnc-zion-fhn/

---