Biggest small-cap gainers and losers in Wednesday's afternoon session

Will Atkinson | May 14, 2008 1:08pm EDT | Comment

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Here are Wednesday’s biggest percentage gainers and losers in midday trading, along with top volume leaders, among companies with a market cap between $50 million and $750 million:

Biggest percentage gainers:

• BCSB Bankcorp, Inc. (Nasdaq:BCSBD), up 81.5% to $11.36 after the Baltimore-based bank holding company reported net income of $0.1 million for the six months ended March 31, versus a loss of $3.2 million a year earlier. The increase was primarily due to losses sustained in 2007 from the balance sheet restructuring, partially offset by recoveries on dishonored checks.
• China Architectural Engineering, Inc. (AMEX:RCH), up 43.6% to $8.53 after posting a twofold increase in first-quarter profit.
• China Automotive Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CAAS), up 32.7% to $7.27 after the China-based supplier of power steering systems and components announced that its first-quarter profit more than doubled.

Biggest percentage losers:

• Transcat, Inc. (Nasdaq:TRNS), down 15% to $5.91 despite no significant news.
• American Apparel Inc. (AMEX:APP), down 11.4% to $7.49 after the clothing maker reported less-than-expected profit for the first quarter.
• Corus Bankshares, Inc. (Nasdaq:CORS), down 10.8% to $5.52 despite no announcements from the Chicago-based firm.

Volume leaders:

• EMCORE Corp. (Nasdaq:EMKR), 3.4 million shares traded versus average of 2 million shares.
• China Architectural Engineering, Inc. (AMEX:RCH), 2.9 million shares traded compared with average of 168,700 shares.
• Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV), 2.3 million shares traded versus average of 3.7 million shares.