[January 23, 2007]

DJ US Hot Stocks: JNJ JNPR KFT MMC MDP MAIR MSPD NDAQ -4-

(Comtex Business Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jan 23, 2007 (Dow Jones Commodities News Select via Comtex) --Johnson & Johnson (JNJ, $66.51, -$0.67, -1%) said fourth-quarter net income rose to $2.17 billion, or 74 cents a share, from $2.1 billion, or 70 cents a share. Excluding a charge related to the acquisition of Pfizer Inc.'s consumer healthcare unit, it earned 81 cents a share. Sales to customers rose to $13.68 billion from $12.61 billion. Analysts, on average, expected it to earn 79 cents a share on revenue of $13.68 billion, according to Thomson Financial.

Juniper Networks (JNPR, $18.77, -$0.36, -1.9%) was downgraded to market weight from overweight at Thomas Weisel.

Kraft Foods Inc. (KFT, $35.78, -$0.13, -0.04%) said it's selling its hot cereals business, including the Cream of Wheat and Cream of Rice brands, to B&G Foods Inc. (BGF, $21.82, -$0.18, -0.8%) for about $200 million. The Cream of Wheat brand had revenue of about $60 million in 2006, Kraft said. Kraft took a fourth-quarter pretax charge of $69 million in anticipation of the sale, which is expected to be dilutive to 2007 earnings by about 1 cent a share, the Northfield, Ill., food company said.

Marsh Inc. (MMC, $30.43, $0.03, 0.1%) said it has been awarded a wholly-owned foreign enterprise insurance broking license in China, the first of its kind.

Meredith Corp. (MDP, $57.31, $0.32, 0.56%) said its fiscal second-quarter earnings rose 20% as advertising revenue increased 8%, fueled by the company's television-stations business. The company also expects higher third-quarter earnings, and reaffirmed its outlook for fiscal 2007. The Des Moines, Iowa, company said Tuesday second-quarter net earnings increased to $35 million, or 72 cents a share, from $29.2 million, or 58 cents a share, a year earlier as revenue rose 5.2% to $406.1 million from $386 million. Profit for the latest second-quarter includes a charge of 4 cents a share to reserve for a doubtful account related to the Dec. 29 bankruptcy filing by Advanced Marketing Services. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial, on average, had been expecting the media and marketing company to earn 75 cents a share on revenue of $402.2 million for the second quarter ended Dec. 31.

Mesaba Airlines, a Mair Holdings Inc. (MAIR, $7.71, $0.38, 5.2%) unit, said it has signed a stock purchase and reorganization agreement with Northwest Airlines Corp. (NWACQ, $5.27, -$0.28, -5.01%) under which Mesaba would emerge from bankruptcy as a Northwest unit.

Mindspeed Technologies Inc. (MSPD, $2.03, $0.18, 9.7%) said the first-quarter net loss widened, as revenue declined and expenses rose, to $11.3 million, or 10 cents a share, from a net loss of $5.5 million, or 5 cents a share, during the same period in the prior year.

Nasdaq Stock Market Inc. (NDAQ, $33.53, -$0.39, -1.1%) said it believes the London Stock Exchange's (LSE.LN) forecast for growth in electronic trading is ambitious. Nasdaq added it believes continued pressure by customers and competitors will lead to further reductions in trading charges. The U.S. exchange said this pressure on charges will mean that even if the LSE achieves its target of 480,000 average daily trades on its SETS system, lower yields will depress revenue and profit growth. Nasdaq said that, given the LSE's statements that it does not oppose a deal in principle, it is "surprised" that the U.K. exchange has not agreed to discuss Nasdaq's GBP2.7 billion ($5.3 billion) takeover offer. Nasdaq added the only meeting it has had with the LSE was as a shareholder, rather than a potential bidder, in May 2006.

(MORE TO FOLLOW) Dow Jones Newswires

01-23-07 1009ET

Copyright (c) 2007 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.

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As of Friday, 01-19-2007 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert,
an automated pattern recognition system, indicated an UPTREND on
07-21-2006 for JNJ @ $61.77.

As of Friday, 01-19-2007 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend(SM) Alert,
an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND on
10-31-2006 for PFE @ $26.73.

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