Tag - NYSE:PPC

Small-cap stocks tumbled to fresh move lows early Monday, slipping to the lowest point on intraday charts since August 2003, but mounted a nice recovery rally on a stronger-than-forecast new home sales release. The early decline was fueled by steep losses in global equity trading overnight, which underscored fear of a global growth slowdown. Today’s small-cap gainers are Penn National Gaming (Nasdaq:PENN), Pilgrim’s Pride (NYSE:PPC) and ATP Oil & Gas (Nasdaq:ATPG).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Commodities in general were taking a hit this morning, pulled down by a strong tone in the U.S. dollar, which rose to the highest point versus the euro since April 2006.  
• Small caps tumbled to fresh move lows early Monday, slipping to the lowest point on intraday charts since August 2003, but mounted a nice recovery on a stronger-than-forecast new home sales release.
• Looking at the chart picture, if the Russell quickly cascades through Friday’s low this morning, then it opens the door to another leg down.  
• The strong dollar and fears of a global recession took a toll on commodities, with crude oil down more than $2 a barrel.  
• Global stock markets were on fire sale, with Japan’s Nikkei sinking 6% to the lowest close since 1982, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index collapsed 12.7%, the largest 1-day drop in 9 years.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Penn National Gaming up 12% after Q3 EPS vaulted on settlement payment, raises 2008 earnings guidance. See (Nasdaq:PENN).  
• Pilgrim's Pride gets extension on temporary waiver under its credit facilities through November 26, up 11%. See (NYSE:PPC).
• ATP Oil & Gas to buyback 10% of shares outstanding, shares gain 11%.
See (Nasdaq:ATPG).
• Sohu.com posts Q3 above the Street, guides Q4 above estimates, initiates $150M share repurchase program. See (Nasdaq:SOHU).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Natures Sunshine Products Inc. is down 36%, gapping lower, but on light volume. See (Nasdaq:NATR).  
• Timken sinks 30% on no fresh news. See (NYSE:TKR).
• Bolt Technology skids 28% on no fresh news. See (Nasdaq:BOLT)
• Seanergy Maritime Corp. is off about 27%, also on a light volume opening slide. See (Nasdaq:SHIP).  
• Ariba slides 20% despite an upgrade by Cowen and actions to streamline its sourcing and contract management processes. (Nasdaq:ARBA).   

Small-cap stocks slipped 1.89% late Friday, as a bleak report on the housing sector, options expiration volatility and ongoing worries about the economy offset a spate of positive earnings in the tech arena. Today’s small-cap gainers are CIT Group (NYSE:CIT), Universal Stainless & Alloy Products (Nasdaq:USAP) and Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:ABK). Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• BMO Capital's Andy Busch to SCI: "There is a serious need to educate the banking sector participants on the changes in the Treasury programs the Fed programs directed at easing the credit crunch." 
• Outside of the gold market, commodity stocks were doing well today, with coal, steel, gas utilities, oil exploration, gas storage and agriculture products all up. 
• On the downside, anything tied to housing was struggling, including home furnishing stocks and homebuilder shares. Bank stocks and financial shares were also lagging the general market. 
• The expiration of options on stocks today likely played a role in some of the market’s struggles as the directional bias into expiration is clearly toward lower prices. 
• Crude oil jumped some $4 a barrel today as the market anticipates . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) remained a smidge lower into the midday, but well off the morning lows as gains in the technology arena spilled over into the broad market. Concerns about the economy, a moribund housing market and expiration jitters kept a lid on some buying interest, but the market was trying to spark a rally heading toward the afternoon. Today’s small-cap gainers are UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA), CIT (NYSE:CIT) and Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AKT). Other Market Watch highlights today include:

• Light, sweet crude for November delivery is up $1.66 to $71.51 a barrel. On Thursday, it sank to a 14-month low on worries about a deep global recession obliterating fuel demand.
• BMO Capital's Andy Busch to SCI: "There is a serious need to educate the banking sector participants on the changes in the Treasury programs the Fed programs directed at easing the credit crunch." 
• Outside of the gold market, commodity stocks were doing well today, with coal, steel, gas utilities, oil exploration, gas storage and agriculture products all up. 
• On the downside, anything tied to housing was struggling, including home furnishing stocks and homebuilder shares. Bank stocks and financial shares were also lagging the general market. 
• The expiration of options on stocks today likely played a role in some of the market’s struggles as the directional bias into expiration is clearly toward lower prices. 

Small Cap Gainers:

• CIT (NYSE:CIT) loss widens; vendor finance write-down hurts. Shares of the finance company are soaring 47%.
• United Air’s parent UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA) is up 20% today, extending its rise from Thursday.
• Ambac Financial Group (NYSE:AKT) is soaring nearly 30% on news . . .

National Financial Partners Corp. (Nasdaq:NFP), H&E Equipment Services Inc.(Nasdaq:HEES) and Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (Nasdaq:PPC) are among the biggest percentage losers in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Citi Trends Inc. (Nasdaq:CTRN), Jos A Bank Clothiers Inc. (Nasdaq:JOSB), Tenneco Inc. (Nasdaq:TEN), Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (Nasdaq:MRX), and James River Coal Co. (Nasdaq:JRCC)

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps:

Cache Inc. (Nasdaq:CACH), Perceptron Inc. (Nasdaq:PRCP) and Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (Nasdaq:PPC) are among the new 52-week lows in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Federal Agricultural Mortgage Corp. (Nasdaq:AGM), Paragon Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq:PRGN), Startek Inc. (Nasdaq:SRT), Morgan Stanley Income Securities Inc. (Nasdaq:ICB), Johnson Outdoors Inc. (Nasdaq:JOUT) and United Refining Energy Units (Nasdaq:URX.U)

Here are the new 52-week lows among small caps:

Koss Corp. (Nasdaq:KOSS), Solarfun Power Holdings Co Ltd. (Nasdaq:SOLF) and Charming Shoppes Inc. (Nasdaq:CHRS) are among the biggest percentage losers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: First M&F Corp. (Nasdaq:FMFC), Pilgrim's Pride Corp. (Nasdaq:PPC), Versant Corp. (Nasdaq:VSNT), eTelecare Global Solutions Inc. (Nasdaq:ETEL), Stoneridge Inc. (Nasdaq:SRI) and Ames National Corp. (Nasdaq:ATLO).

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps:

CastlePoint Holdings (Nasdaq:CPHL), Dixie Group Inc (Nasdaq:DXYN) and athenahealth Inc (Nasdaq:ATHN) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Chemgenex Pharm (Nasdaq:CXSP), Transcat Inc (Nasdaq:TRNS), Pilgrim's Pride Corp (Nasdaq:PPC), Cutera Inc (Nasdaq:CUTR), Maiden Holdings Ord Shs (Nasdaq:MHLD) and LandAmerica Financial Group Inc (Nasdaq:LFG).

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

After a rocky finish to Wednesday’s trading, small-cap stocks are slightly higher midday Thursday on encouraging congressional testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, though woes in the U.S. mortgage and housing industries continue to pressure stocks.

At 1:14 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 7.50, or 1.13%, at 671.25, while the Dow was up 63.43, or 0.57%, at 11,210.87.

Bernanke spoke before the House Financial Services Committee and encouraged the government to update its outdated financial regulation system. Bernanke, along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, urged the government to create a safety net that would minimize a failing bank’s impact on the broader economy.

"In light of the Bear Stearns episode, Congress may wish to consider whether new tools are needed for ensuring an orderly liquidation of a systemically important securities firm that is on the verge of bankruptcy, together with a more formal process for deciding when to use those tools," Bernanke said.

Paulson added that major mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE) will be able to recover from this rough patch, and that he had been informed that both Fannie and Freddie have enough capital. Shares of the mortgage companies sank by midday, though, with Fannie Mae falling 10% and Freddie Mac skidding 20%. The mortgage giants’ woes dragged down many financial stocks amid worries the banking crisis is far from over.

Not helping calm investors was a RealtyTrac Inc. report early in the day that showed U.S. foreclosure filings grew 53% in June from the prior year. Bank repossessions soared the most since the company began collecting data in 2005.

Sanderson Farms Inc. (Nasdaq:SAFM) has a lot of pluck to plan a chicken processing capacity expansion while some struggling competitors are crying out for industry cutbacks to firm up prices.

While demand for poultry is healthy, producers face the big problem of higher costs, mainly for transportation and feed, as oil and other commodities including corn continue to rise.

The fourth-largest U.S. poultry producer, though, hasn’t hit the panic button, and Mississippi-based Sanderson Farms recently announced plans to open a new plant in North Carolina in late 2009, primarily to handle retail-packaged products. Last year, the company brought online a plant in Waco, Texas, to process 1.25 million chickens a week.

For the most part, analysts who follow Sanderson Farms are staying neutral, with four of the five recently polled by Thomson Reuters having the stock at “hold,” and the other deeming it a “strong buy.”

Sanderson Farms began as a rural feed store in the 1940s, started a hatchery to sell more feed to farmers, then began buying back the chickens and selling them. Now Sanderson has plants scattered across the South, producing chill-pack and frozen chicken for the retail market, big-bird processing for commercial use, and specialty foods manufacturing. Russia and China are growing markets for leg-quarter products.

The median price target for the company is $50, about 10% under its historical high of $55.18 in June 2004. On May 29, Sanderson hit a 52-week high of $50.45 and shares dropped as low as  $27.80 on Jan. 22. The stock closed Wednesday at $39.99.

Still, Sanderson executives have bluntly outlined the challenges in several recent presentations. During a June 4 presentation at the Stephens Inc. Spring Investment Conference, chairman and CEO Joe Sanderson explained why the company . . .