Movers: Merrill Lynch, U.S. Steel, Amgen, Alcatel-Lucent

Stocks in the news Tuesday

From Standard & Poor's Equity Research

Merrill Lynch (MER) announces "substantial" sale of U.S. ABS CDOs to affiliate of Lone Star Funds for $6.7 billion. Also agrees to terminate ABS CDO hedges with SCA's XL Capital Assurance, et al. Also, MER announces that it plans to raise $8.5 billion through public offering of common stock. Temasek Holdings agrees to purchase $3.4 billion of common, MER's executive management team will purchase about 750,000 shares. Oppenheimer maintains underperform, but applauds MER's "purging" of assets. S&P upgrades to hold from sell.

United States Steel (X) posts $5.65, vs. $2.54 a year ago, second quarter EPS on 60% revenue rise.

Amgen (AMGN) posts $1.14, vs. $1.12, second quarter adjusted EPS on 1.0% revenue rise. Street was looking for $1.02. Product sales in U.S. fell 1.0%, but international products sales rose 17%. Worldwide sales of Aranesp fell 13%, principally due to weakness in U.S. But company raises 2008 guidance to $4.25-$4.45 adjusted EPS on revenue of $14.6-$14.9 billion. Citigroup, Merrill reportedly upgrades.

Colgate-Palmolive (CL) posts $0.98, vs. $0.84, second quarter EPS (excluding restructuring charges) on 16% sales rise. Sees 2008 mid-teen EPS growth. Anticipates another year of solid double-digit EPS growth in 2009 with gross profit margin up vs. 2008.

Manitowoc (MTW) posts $1.01, vs. $0.76, adjusted second quarter EPS on 28% higher revenue. Raises bottom end of 2008 EPS guidance from $3.20-$3.30, and affirms top end of guidance at $3.40, excludes $0.02 contribution from special items in second quarter, unusual items, effects of Enodis acquisition.

Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) posts $0.16 second quarter loss per ADS, vs. $0.20 loss per ADS, despite 5.2% revenue drop. Sees third quarter revenue flat to slightly down sequentially, followed by strong ramp in the fourth quarter. Reiterates its previous guidance for 2008 revenue. Non-Executive Chairman Serge Tchuruk and CEO Pat Russo plan to step down.

Harmonic (HLIT) lower-than-expected $0.16, vs. $0.11, second quarter non-GAAP EPS on 25% sales rise. Sees net sales in second half of 2008 of $175-$185 million and non-GAAP gross margins of 49%-51%. Merrill downgrades to neutral from buy.

Coach (COH) posts $0.62, vs. $0.50, fourth quarter EPS from continued operations on 16% revenue rise (excluding forex). It sees $0.44 first quarter EPS on sales of about $765 million and $2.25 fiscal year 2009 EPS (excluding one-time items) on $3.61 billion sales.

Valero Energy (VLO) posts better-than-expected $1.37, vs. $3.57, second quarter EPS as sharp rise in operating costs offset 51% higher operating revenue. Street was looking for $1.33 second quarter EPS.

Louisiana-Pacific (LPX) posts $0.79 second quarter loss per share, vs. $0.22 loss a year ago, on 16% sales drop.

XL Capital Ltd (XL) agrees to pay Security Capital (SCA) $1.78 billion, turn over its 46% stake in SCA to a trust and give SCA 8 million XL shares for ending some reinsurance agreements. XL cuts qrtly dividend to $0.19. Posts $1.50 vs. $2.90 second quarter net operating earnings per ordinary share. Exploring opportunities related to its Life Reinsurance operations. COO Henry Keeling to retire; COO role to be eliminated. S&P Ratings Services assigns 'BBB' junior subordinated debt rating to XL's planned $500 million of mandatory convertible securities; places this rating on CreditWatch with negative implications. Fox-Pitt reportedly downgrades.