Tag - AEHR

Anadigics Inc (Nasdaq:ANAD), UAL Corp (Nasdaq:UAUA) and Dendreon Corp (Nasdaq:DNDN) are among the most actively traded companies in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Skywest Inc (Nasdaq:SKYW), TriQuint Semiconductor Inc (Nasdaq:TQNT), Canadian Solar Inc (Nasdaq:CSIQ), Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR), EarthLink Inc (Nasdaq:ELNK) and Metabolix Inc (Nasdaq:MBLX).

Here are the most actively traded companies among small caps:

Datascope Corp (Nasdaq:DSCP), Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR) and American Spectrum Realty Inc (Nasdaq:AQQ) are among the new 52-week highs in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

STEC Inc (Nasdaq:STEC), Cytori Therapeutics Inc (Nasdaq:CYTX) and Volterra Semiconductor Corp (Nasdaq:VLTR) are also among the new 52-week highs.

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

Gencor Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:GENC), Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR) and Stepan Co. (NYSE:SCL) were among the new 52-week highs established during Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million.

Southside Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq:SBSI), Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:CWEI) and WSI Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:WSCI) were also among the 52-week small-cap highs.

Here are today's 52-week small-cap highs:

WSI Industries, Inc. (Nasdaq:WSCI), K-Tron International, Inc. (Nasdaq:KTII) and Adept Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq:ADEP) were among the new 52-week highs established during Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million. 

Argan, Inc. (AMEX:AGX), Rex Energy Corp. (Nasdaq:REXX) and Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR) were also among the 52-week small-cap highs.

Here are today's 52-week small-cap highs:

Hawaiian Holdings, Inc. (AMEX:HA), Quaker Chemical Corp. (NYSE:KWR) and Clayton Williams Energy, Inc. (Nasdaq:CWEI) were among the new 52-week highs established during Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million. 

Global Traffic Network, Inc. (Nasdaq:GNET), Bentley Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NYSE:BNT) and Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq:AEHR) were also among the 52-week small-cap highs.

Here are today's 52-week small-cap highs:

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) futures are lower and the small-cap index will open in the red on news that U.S. durable goods orders unexpectedly declined in February.

Orders for durable goods fell 1.7% in February, the U.S. Census Bureau reported before the start of trading. Economists were expecting durable goods, which are goods expected to last at least three years, to increase 0.8% after falling a downwardly revised 4.7% in January.

Elsewhere in the same report, orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft, an important measure of business spending, also declined.

The Russell 2000 had a relatively quiet session Tuesday, rising 3.99, or 0.57%, to 705.27. Look for resistance Wednesday at 712 and 724, while support comes in at 700, 694 and 686.

There could be mild volatility today. New Home Sales are released at 10:00 a.m. ET and could spark a little move outside of the norm.

 

The semiconductor business is a cyclical one, and right now it seems to be on the rinse cycle. A soft market in the first half of this year is washing out some of the profits of the chipmakers, and the weakness is trickling down to the companies that supply them with the equipment to make and test the chips.

An exception, however, is Aehr Test Systems (Nasdaq: AEHR), a Fremont, Calif.-based seller of semiconductor test equipment that has been largely ignored until recently. It offers two new test systems that are more efficient than anything else on the market, and are especially good at testing popular flash memory chips. One customer, at least, is buying the new gear and subsequently boosting profits.

In the second fiscal quarter ended last November, Aehr reported revenues of $9.7 million, up 56% from a year earlier, and up 26% sequentially. Pro forma net income, at $1.6 million, is up 83% from a year ago, and 62% sequentially.

The stock price has risen about 40% since earnings were announced on Jan. 7, but the company is still ignored by many investors. At just under $8 during trading on Friday, share prices were up nearly 30% from a year ago. Shares have traded between $5.41 and $8.27 over the last 52 weeks. Ramesh Misra at Collins Stewart (which makes a market in Aehr stock and expects to seek investment banking business from the company in the next quarter) is the only analyst currently covering the stock. Misra thinks that’s because large investors have no interest in small volume stocks and their banks have dropped coverage. But he believes that Aehr’s customer base is likely to expand soon, and will “boost its image among investors.”

Misra has a target price of $12, about 10 times his FY09 (May) earnings estimate of $1.15 per share. It’s currently trading at about 7.6 times his earnings estimate of $1.04 per share for calendar year 2008, still making it a bargain. (Credence is currently trading at 36 times its forward P/E, even though it’s dropped about 70% in the last year.) In his Jan. 8 report, Misra wrote that Aehr is “among the few semi-equipment stocks that is downright inexpensive.”

PVF Capital Corp. (Nasdaq: PVFC), SeaBright Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Nasdaq: SEAB) and Semitool, Inc. (Nasdaq: SMTL) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage gainers: