7 Stocks To Know: Johnson & Johnson, Prudential, Apple, Borders,Ener1, Mentor Graphics, BP

 

 

The Food and Drug Administration is considering criminal charges for Johnson & Johnson (JNJ: 58.30 -0.73 -1.24%) after the company's children's Tylenol and other over-the-counter cough medicines were recalled last month. JNJ shares are slightly lower in early Friday trading. FDA said it is considering sanctions including "seizure, injunction and criminal penalties".
Prudential (PUK: 15.61 -0.45 -2.80%) is in discussions with AIG (AIG: 35.38 -1.08 -2.96%) to cut the price of its Asian unit AIA as it tries to iron out the $35.5 billion acquisition. Prudential shareholders are displeased as the company's CEO is asking for $21 billion, the largest-ever rights offer for an acquisition. Prudential's market value is 13.7 billion pounds ($20 billion).
Borders (BGP: 1.97 -0.17 -7.94%) shares are down more than 6% in early Friday trading after the book retailer reported Thursday it lost $64.1 million, or $1.07 a share, compared with a loss of $86 million, or $1.44 a share, a year ago. Revenue declined to $547.2 million from $650.2 million.
Apple (AAPL: 256.88 +3.53 +1.39%) shares are up nearly 2% in early Friday trading, coinciding with the first day of sale of the company's tablet computer iPad outside the U.S. today. The iPad is now available in Australia, Canada, Japan and six European countries. When iPad debut in the U.S. in April, Apple sold one million of the device in less than a month.
Ener1 (HEV: 3.48 +0.28 +8.75%) soared 21% to $3.88 after the company's EnerDel unit, a U.S. manufacturer of lithium-ion batteries for electric cars, announced it is setting up a joint venture with China's largest auto-parts maker, Wanxiang Group, to sell batteries to Wanxiang's Chinese customers.
Mentor Graphics (MENT: 9.18 +0.13 +1.44%) said it would miss the average analyst estimate of a 4-cent per share second-quarter profit, excluding some items. The company said it would lose 5 cents a share in the worst case scenario, and at best, break even during the quarter. Its shares are up more than 2% today.
BP (BP: 42.95 -2.43 -5.35%) resumed pumping thousands of barrels of mud into a damaged oil well in an effort to stop the Gulf oil spill that has become the largest in U.S. history. BP said today that the effort may take up to 48 hours, and that the "response" costs so far is $930 million.
The U.S. Commerce Department figures showed Friday that consumer spending for April came in unchanged compared to March. Analysts had expected spending to rise 0.3% instead. This marks the weakest reading on spending since September of 2009.