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CNNfn market movers
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July 20, 1998: 1:04 p.m. ET
Mergers, earnings vault firms to hot stocks list in slow summer session
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Slap another merger Monday into the middle of earnings season and what do you get? A barrel-full of hot movers on Wall Street.
SunTrust (STI) plunged 9-3/4 to 77-11/16 after the Atlanta-based bank opened its vault Monday to pay for a $9.5 billion buyout of the Virginia-based bank Crestar Financial (CF), which soared 8-1/8 to 72-1/8 on the news.
PepsiCo (PEP) was up 3/16 to 39-11/16 after the soft-drink company popped the top Monday on a $3.3 billion cash buyout of the Tropicana juice unit of beverage company-turned-media giant Seagram (VO), whose shares climbed 1 to 40-13/16.
After seeing its hostile bid for rival Echlin (ECH) outbid recently, SPX (SPW) fell 4-5/8 to 59-7/8 after announcing a $2 billion buyout of the industrial and electrical controls maker General Signal (GSX), whose shares climbed 3-15/16 to 41-9/16.
Dialing up phone equipment makers
Lucent Technologies (LU) surged 5-5/8 to 100-1/2 as the telecommunications equipment maker prepares to roll out earnings numbers later this week.
Lucent also won a $699 million contract Monday to build a mobile phone network in Saudi Arabia. And a report Friday said regional phone companies may get clearance from Federal regulators to build data systems without having to resell those services to rivals, and could make those companies busy building with equipment from Lucent.
Other communications equipment makers gained as well, such as Northern Telecom (NT), up 2-11/16 to 58-1/16; Ciena (CIEN), up 2-3/16 to 88-1/8; and Ciena's would-be merger partner Tellabs (TLAB), up 1-13/16 to 88-1/2.
Alliance Communications (ALLIF) gained 3-1/8, or 18 percent, to 20-1/2 and Atlantis Communications (ATV) fell 1/16 to 3-15/16 after the Canadian firms agreed to merge into a filmed entertainment company with more than $750 million in revenues.
SIS Bancorp (SISB) climbed 7-13/16 to 52-13/16 after Peoples Heritage Financial Group (PHBK) said it will buy the Springfield, Mass.-based bank holding company for more than $427 million in stock.
QLogic (QLGC) continued its upward climb, gaining 4-3/4 to 55-1/4 on top of Friday's 13-point surge, after the integrated circuit maker roared past earnings targets by 9 cents a share.
FPA Medical Management (FPAM) plunged 9/16, or 78 percent, to 5/32 in very heavy trading after the physicians practices management company said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Analog Devices (ADI) plunged 4-1/4 to 22-11/16 after the circuit maker said a weak computer chip sector and troubles in Asia's markets will cut sales by about 10 percent and earnings by even more.
On the earnings front, Warner-Lambert (WLA) gained 5 to 84-9/16 after the drug maker posted a 46 percent gain in second-quarter earnings, due in part to the strength of two newer drugs: cholesterol-lowering agent Lipitor; and Rezulin, for treatment of Type 2 diabetes.
Ameritrade (AMTD) rose 1-3/4 to 36 after the Internet-based discount broker announced a two-for-one stock split in the form of a stock dividend.
McDonald's (MCD) fell 3-5/8 to 69-5/8 after the big fast-food chain said it doesn't expect to maintain its current rate of profitability in the second half of 1998.
And fellow Dow component Travelers Group (TRV) gained 3/16 to 71-7/8 after the financial services giant reported a 5 percent gain in earnings to 77 cents a share on a fully diluted basis in the second quarter. That was in line with analyst expectations. 
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