Thursday's biggest small-cap gainers and losers

Will Atkinson | Apr 24, 2008 11:00am EDT | Comment

Rating: Unrated [rate it]

Here are Thursday’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:

• Nextwave Wireless Inc. (Nasdaq:WAVE) up 23.8% to $5.88 after the broadband wireless firm announced plans to sell its spectrum holdings.
• GSI Commerce, Inc. (Nasdaq:GSIC) up 22.7% to $13.96 after the King of Prussia, Pa-based provider of e-commerce and marketing services announced layoffs at a call center and a 25% jump in first-quarter revenue.
• Encore Wire Corp. (Nasdaq:WIRE) up 20.4% to $22.48 after the manufacturer of copper electrical building wire and cable reported after Wednesday’s close that it swung to a profit in the first quarter of 2008 and substantially beat Wall Street’s consensus estimate.

Biggest percentage losers:

• Monarch Casino & Resort, Inc. (Nasdaq:MCRI) down 22.1% to $13.44 after the owner of the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa in Reno, Nevada, reported first-quarter results that declined from a year ago and missed analysts’ estimates.
• VASCO Data Security International, Inc. (Nasdaq:VDSI) down 22.1% to $10.78 after the Oakland Terrace, Ill.-based maker of computer hardware reported early Thursday that its first-quarter revenue rose modestly to $28.9 million from $26.4 million a year earlier. Wall Street analysts anticipated $32.5 million in revenue.
• AmericanWest Bancorp. (Nasdaq:AWBC) down 21.4% to $5.75 after the Spokane, Wash.-based regional bank announced early Thursday that it swung to a first-quarter loss due to charges, expenses and loan loss provisions.

Volume leaders:

• TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), 5.7 million shares traded versus average of 1.4 million shares.
• The South Financial Group (Nasdaq:TSFG), 2.9 million shares traded compared with average of 2.1 million shares.
• Interface, Inc. (Nasdaq:IFSIA), 2.5 million shares traded versus average of 0.9 million shares.