Hot Stocks: Travel tumbles

November 12, 2001 Posted: 2228 GMT

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -- Wall Street losses were spread across most sectors and industries on Monday after an American Airlines jet crashed in New York, and airline and travel-related stocks were among the biggest losers.

Both AMR, the parent of American Airlines, and Delta Air Lines fell about 10 percent, while shares of Northwest Airlines dropped 6 percent.

Shares of Ciena, however, gained 10 percent after the company reaffirmed fourth-quarter earnings expectations in line with analysts' forecasts and announced it was cutting 380 job.

Some of the biggest decliners were online travel sites, including Travelocity.com (TVLY: down $1.46 to $14.10, Research, Estimates), Priceline.com (PCLN: down $0.22 to $4.28, Research, Estimates), and Expedia (EXPE: down $1.26 to $29.96, Research, Estimates).

Cruise lines Royal Caribbean (RCL: down $0.92 to $11.91, Research, Estimates) and Carnival (CCL: down $0.15 to $24.00, Research, Estimates)  (CCL: down $0.15 to $24.00, Research, Estimates) (CCL: down $0.15 to $24.00, Research, Estimates) also fell, as did airlines Delta (DAL: down $2.72 to $23.27, Research, Estimates), Continental (CAL: down $1.60 to $16.00, Research, Estimates) and Northwest Airlines (NWAC: down $0.81 to $12.73, Research, Estimates) .

The biggest losers on the New York Stock Exchange, AMR (AMR: down $1.64 to $16.49, Research, Estimates), parent of American Airlines, whose Flight 587 crashed near New York's Kennedy International Airport just after 9 a.m. ET.

ViroPharma (VPHM: down $0.28 to $23.54, Research, Estimates). The company said it and American Home Products (AHP: up $0.41 to $57.38, Research, Estimates) have dropped plans to develop an experimental treatment for hepatitis C.

LVMH (LVMHY: down $0.10 to $7.40, Research, Estimates). The luxury goods maker issued its third profit warning since Sept. 11 and said its operating earnings may fall 15 percent in fiscal year 2001.

Ciena (CIEN: up $1.65 to $18.83, Research, Estimates). The maker of fiber-optic communications equipment said it may beat profit forecasts in the fourth quarter, earning 4-to-6 cents a share. Analysts surveyed by First Call expected 4 cents a share. Ciena also said it would cut about 10 percent of its work force, or 380 jobs, as well as take a $1.7 billion charge in the fourth quarter.

Other networking or telecommunications equipment stocks also rallied. Juniper Networks (JNPR: up $0.55 to $23.99, Research, Estimates) rose more than 2 percent, while Extreme Networks (EXTR: up $1.04 to $15.15, Research, Estimates) gained 7 percent. Industry leader Nortel Networks (NT: up $0.17 to $6.91, Research, Estimates) added 2.5 percent to $6.91.

May Department Stores (MAY: up $0.02 to $34.72, Research, Estimates). Excluding one-time items, the company earned 17 cents a share in the third quarter, in line with estimates but down from 27 cents per share a year ago.

InVision Technologies (INVN: up $1.05 to $13.35, Research, Estimates), which makes sophisticated scanners used in airports to detect explosives, fingerprint scanning company Identix Inc. (IDNX: up $0.70 to $7.75, Research, Estimates), Visage Technology (VISG: up $1.24 to $10.28, Research, Estimates), a provider of digital identification systems and Visionics (VSNX: up $1.31 to $14.15, Research, Estimates), a maker of identification technologies and systems, all rose.

Before the crash, Visionics said it will begin installing its technology to automatically scan all faces at two U.S. international airports. The technology scans faces and matches them against a watch list maintained by airport authorities, including records available from the FBI. For security reasons, both airports remain unnamed until installation is completed, which is expected to be by the end of December.

Elsewhere, Enron (ENE: up $0.61 to $9.24, Research, Estimates)  and Dynegy (DYN: up $5.55 to $44.31, Research, Estimates) were active. Troubled energy trading firm Enron agreed to be purchased by Dynegy for $8.9 billion, but will face regulatory hurdles, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF: up $1.26 to $20.13, Research, Estimates). Morgan Stanley upgraded the clothing retailer to "strong buy" from "outperform."

Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals (HEPH: up $1.04 to $10.67, Research, Estimates). The drug maker said preliminary results for its malaria treatment drug, HE2000, showed signs of success.

Bradley Pharmaceuticals (BPRX: up $0.95 to $15.10, Research, Estimates). The drug maker raised earnings and sales guidance for 2001 on growth in its new prescription segment. The Fairfield, N.J.-based company increased its 2001 earnings forecast to 31 cents a share from a 22 cents-a-share forecast given in late July, and raised its net sales guidance to $25.3 million from $23.2 million.