Tag - KAMN

Kaman Corp. (Nasdaq:KAMN), NCI Building Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:NCS) and W&T Offshore Inc. (Nasdaq:WTI) are among the new 52-week lows in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Kronos Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq:KRO), Care Investment Trust Inc. (Nasdaq:CRE), Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Nasdaq:DECK), Amrep Corp (Nasdaq:AXR), eLong Inc. (Nasdaq:LONG) and China Medical Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:CMED).

CommScope Inc. (Nasdaq:CTV), athenahealth Inc. (Nasdaq:ATHN) and Deckers Outdoor Corp. (Nasdaq:DECK) are among the biggest percentage losers in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Kaman Corp. (Nasdaq:KAMN), Penford Corp. (Nasdaq:PENX), Scientific Games Corp. (Nasdaq:SGMS), Hurco Cos Inc. (Nasdaq:HURC), UAL Corp. (Nasdaq:UAUA) and Stantec Inc. (Nasdaq:STN).

Stow your gear and lock those seatbacks to their upright position, Kaman Corp. (Nasdaq:KAMN) is prepared for takeoff.

After quietly rising to $1 billion in annual revenue, the 63-year-old Connecticut company’s stock is reflecting the infusion of a new management team, a reorganization to focus on its core aerospace and industrial distribution operations, and some key acquisitions. 

Kaman’s shares hit an all-time high of $39.31 the day after Christmas. Then, after sinking to a 52-week low of $21.15 on July 7 on aerospace concerns, share prices started to climb, raising investors’ hopes that the stock will again challenge that year-end peak. Kaman closed Monday at $28.80.

Analysts who follow Kaman believe the stock is worth acquiring: three rate it a “strong buy,” and two have it as a “buy,” according to Thomson Reuters. The median price target is $36, reflecting a 20% upside potential. While down some 22% this year, over the past five years Kaman’s shares increased 108%.

Kaman operates in two arenas, industrial distribution and aerospace. Most of its operations are in the Americas, but the company does have a presence in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Kaman is a defense contractor, and its primary subsidiary is Kaman Aerospace. But industrial accounts for nearly two-thirds of its business, and is the . . .

Small-cap stocks shot out of the gate this morning amid a wave of buying enthusiasm, with the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) up 2.74, or 0.37%, at 732.48 at 9:57 a.m. ET. The early peak was at 734.84, which marks the highest point since early January. Bullish investor psychology was powered by a better-than-expected monthly employment report, which showed a decline of 20,000 payroll jobs in April — much better than the median forecast for a loss of 80,000 jobs. In addition, the headline unemployment figure came in at 5%, which was down from 5.1% last month and well above the number cruncher’s pre-release figure of 5.2%.

It should be noted that the labor market is still contracting, which is a troubling sign for the economy. Still, markets tend to trade on expectations, and when the news isn’t as bad as feared, it clears the way for buying interest to emerge. However, before March lows were carved out, the market had an unsettling way of trading higher on jobs day in recent months, only to resume the downward swing in the days following the initial reaction.

Just ahead of the employment release, the Federal Reserve added liquidity into the system, which sparked a brief flurry of conspiracy theorists that perhaps the credit crunch was rearing its head again, or that the employment report would be a bearish surprise. Clearly, the latter wasn’t the case, and it’s most likely that . . .