Friday's late-moving stocks Alltel, Avon, Krispy Kreme and Red Hat among active issues. NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Here are some stocks that were moving in late trading Friday: AutoNation Inc. (Charts), the nation's leading auto dealer holding company, announced it would cut its orders by 30 percent from General Motors, Ford Motor Co. and the Chrysler Group unit at DaimlerChrysler, suggesting that further production cuts could be ahead for the Big Three. Alltel Corporation (Charts) shares stumbled Friday after the company reported that quarterly earnings and subscriber growth missed forecasts. Avon Products Inc. (Charts) reported a nearly 50 percent decline in quarterly results Friday; the cosmetics maker said it would enact more cost-cutting measures including scaling back the number of products it sells by 25 to 40 percent. Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc. (Charts) had its rating bumped up to a 'buy' from 'neutral' by Merrill Lynch, saying it expects sentiment to improve as the release of 'Shrek 3' approaches. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. (Charts) was given an 'outperform' rating by Prudential Equity Group, which initiated coverage on the doughnut maker Friday, saying it possessed high brand loyalty and a business model that can produce high returns. Red Hat Inc. (Charts)'s CEO fired back Friday, saying he would not cut prices after rival Oracle announced the day before that it would offer similar services at half the price. Rinker Group Ltd (Charts): Cemex announced Friday it would make an offer to purchase the Australian building-material company, which would give Cemex a strong presence in the United States. Sun Microsystems Inc. (Charts) reported it had narrowed its losses, while revenue rose 17 percent, helped by acquisition of StorageTek and growth in its services business, the company said late Thursday. |
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