Premarket roundup: Red Hat, GM, Ford

Among the premarket stories for Thursday, March 25, from AP Financial News:

NEW YORK (AP) _ Shares of Red Hat Inc. climbed in premarket trading Thursday after the open-source software company reported fiscal fourth-quarter earnings ahead of analysts' expectations.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Automakers will report another dismal performance when they reports March sales figures next week, though the Detroit Three may see some improvement compared with February, an analyst said Thursday.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Shares of CKE Restaurants Inc. bounced higher Thursday morning, a day after its fourth-quarter earnings report topped Wall Street expectations.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) _ An analyst cut his earnings estimates for several steel makers Thursday, saying demand has remained low in March, though he believes profits could improve later this year.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Chinese solar cell maker Solarfun Power Holdings Co. will likely face losses in the first half of the year as falling module prices, inventory costs and lack of scale will pressure margins, said one analyst as he downgraded the company's rating.

NEW YORK (AP) _ Ameron International Corp. stock rose Thursday after an analyst upgraded his rating on shares of the maker of water-transmission lines because their price has fallen to an appealing level.