Verizon Communications Inc.’s $6.7 billion bid for MCI Inc. met with indifference Monday on Wall Street, where stocks ended little changed in light trading.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 4.88 points, or 0.1 percent, at 10,791.13. The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index was up just 0.84 of a point, or 0.1 percent, at 1,206.14. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 6.25 points, or 0.3 percent, at 2,082.91.
The action came on the day Verizon said it would buy long-distance telephone company MCI Communications Inc. in a deal worth $6.75 billion, giving it an entry to the market serving large corporations. The deal gives Verizon the muscle to compete against SBC Communications Inc. following its deal to acquire AT & T; Corp. for $16 billion.
Among local stocks, shares of Youbet.com Inc. rose 2.4 percent after the Woodland Hills-based online wagering firm announced plans to launch a horse-racing entertainment Web site in March exclusively for access by customers in China. The new site, which will mirror aspects of the company’s U.S. Web platform in simplified Chinese, will feature live feeds from selected U.S. horse tracks. Youbet was set to release its fourth-quarter earnings after today’s closing bell.
On the down side, shares of En Pointe Technologies Inc. dropped 9.5 percent to close at $3.61 after the L.A.-based I.T. products firm announced earnings for the first quarter ended Dec. 31. The company reported net income of $302,000 (4 cents per diluted share), compared with $241,000 (4 cents) for the like period a year earlier. Revenue rose 18.3 percent, to $75.3 million.
Southwest Water Co. fell 6.6 percent to $11.68 after the L.A.-based water production and distribution company announced quarterly cash dividends of 5 cents per share of common stock and 63 cents per share of its Series A preferred stock. The firm said the common stock cash dividend was unchanged from last quarter’s cash dividend.
And Specialty Laboratories Inc. dipped 3.8 percent to close at $9.80 after the Valencia company said Monday that Chief Executive Douglas Harrington would step down on March 29. The move follows by just four days the departure of chairman Richard Belluzzo.
