Tag - LTRE

American Greetings Corp (Nasdaq:AM), Savannah Bancorp Inc (Nasdaq:SAVB) and Berry Petroleum Co (Nasdaq:BRY) are among the new 52-week lows in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) reversed course Tuesday, unable to sustain upward momentum from Monday’s surge as weakness in financial and homebuilder stocks and numbing results from the Treasury four-week bill auction overwhelmed support from energy and a surprising upside midday spurt on tech stocks. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are DryShips (Nasdaq:DRYS), Excel Maritime Carriers (NYSE:EXM) and Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq:EGLE).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• For the year, the Dow is now down 34%, while the S&P 500 is down 39%.
• The pending home sales report showed a decline of 0.7% in October. 
• Earlier this morning, the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index was down 0.8% for the week on a year-over-year basis.
• Today’s pullback in the stock market comes as a logical “breather” following an impressive two-day run that lifted equities to four-week highs.
• Top performers so far today: aluminum, steel, coal, oil and gas drillers, semiconductors, life insurers and automotive retailers.
• Poorest performers today: real estate investment trusts, air freight couriers, food retail firms and railroads.
• Even though physical commodity prices were soft today, commodity stocks retained a supportive bent for the overall equity market.
• Crude oil prices tumbled $1.64 a barrel, or 3.7% to $42.07, but energy stocks were actually up some 1% into the close.

Small Cap Gainers:

• On the upside of things, dry bulk carriers remained a hot ticket, with Excel Maritime Carriers Ltd. (NYSE:EXM) up 38%, Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq:EGLE) up 37%, DryShips Inc. (Nasdaq:DRYS) up 36% and Safe Bulkers Inc. (NYSE:SB) climbing 22%.
• Exco Resources Inc. (NYSE:XCO) jumped 28% as the oil and natural gas company announced results on the completion of a Louisiana well.
• KMG Chemicals (Nasdaq:KMGB) up 22% after reporting Q1 results . . .

Small-cap stocks reversed course Tuesday, unable to sustain upward momentum from Monday’s surge as weakness in financial and homebuilder stocks and numbing results from the Treasury four-week bill auction overwhelmed support from energy and a surprising upside midday spurt on tech stocks. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed down 15.67, or 3.25%, at 465.71 and is now down 39% for 2008. For the year, the Dow is now down 34%, while the S&P 500 is down 39%.

It appeared that the afternoon trigger point for the sudden influx of selling in equities was tied to the results for the Treasury four-week bills, which not only came in at 0.000% (yes, zero), but saw a bid-to-cover ratio of 4.20. In addition, the three-month T-bill traded with a negative yield at times today. The yield on the long bond is nearing 3% once again, which is basically unheard of, and yields for both bonds and benchmark 10-year notes fell hard today as demand ramped up for Treasury products (which tug money flow away from stocks).

“These events in the Treasury market are causing traders to believe that the market lacks liquidity or buying power,” Nick Kalivas, vice president of financial research with MF Global, said in an email interview. “Institutions like hedge funds, fund of funds, etc. have to stash money in a T-bill for reasons of risk management – like expected redemptions and this is robbing the market of buying power and generating fear,” he said.

Kalivas said it will be important to see how demand goes for three-year and 10-year note auctions, as weaker results could boost equities by suggesting that the demand for liquidity is more short-term than long-term in nature. “It is one thing to buy up a three-month T-bill, but an aggressive bid on a 10-year note auction would signal long-term pessimism toward the economy and rob stocks of buyers,” he said.

Interestingly, technology stocks consistently outperformed other index products today, even though the session started out with gloomy news on the tech front from Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN), which cautioned about the outlook and from Japan’s Sony, which announced massive layoffs numbering some 16,000 . . .

Small-cap stocks pushed lower on the open, weighed down by slumping financial shares and a pause in the commodities run that helped power Monday’s rally. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are DryShips (Nasdaq:DRYS), TBS International (Nasdaq:TBSI) and Eagle Bulk Shipping (Nasdaq:EGLE).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• It should be noted that the U.S. dollar was up about 0.9% against the euro, which tends to weigh on commodities.  
• Crude oil prices slipped about $0.40 a barrel on the stock market open, which could keep energy stocks at bay today.  
• Today’s pullback in the stock market comes as a logical “breather” following an impressive two-day run that lifted equities to four-week highs.  
• Earlier this morning, the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index was down 0.8% for the week on a year-over-year basis.

Small Cap Gainers:

• DryShips up another 12% in pre-market this morning, extending the solid rally from Monday. See (Nasdaq:DRYS).
• TBS International up 7% in pre-market on light volume, extending Monday's rally. See (Nasdaq:TBSI).  
• Eagle Bulk Shipping up 6% in pre-market as many drybulk shipping companies made huge gains on Monday. See (Nasdaq:EGLE).  
• Wireless broadband provider Alvarion to cut job, executive pay. Shares rise 3% in pre-market. See (Nasdaq:ALVR).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Learning Tree International Inc. gapped downward and lost 21% as the education vendor also took an earnings-related lump. See (Nasdaq:LTRE).  
• Analogic Corp. gapped lower and shed 19% maker of health and security imaging equipment announced earnings. See (Nasdaq:ALOG).
• Con-Way Inc. slumped 16% as the freight transport company revised guidance lower. See (NYSE:CNW).  
• Cherokee Inc. slipped 10% as the brand management company corrected lower from big gains the previous two sessions. See (Nasdaq:CHKE).  

Small-cap stocks pushed lower on the open, weighed down by slumping financial shares and a pause in the commodities run that helped power Monday’s rally. At 10:01 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 6.04, or 1.25%, at 475.34.

The pending home sales report showed a decline of 0.7% in October. Earlier this morning, the Johnson Redbook Retail Sales Index was down 0.8% for the week on a year-over-year basis and is off 0.4% for December so far versus November.

Today’s pullback in the stock market comes as a logical “breather” following an impressive two-day run that lifted equities to four-week highs. There is some sense among insiders that Monday’s big rally was essentially the news coming out that allowed a “bad news” rally on Friday’s employment report. From that perspective, it would mean that the market now needs fresh bullish impetus to sustain the rise, and unfortunately most of the early headlines today are tilted to the bearish side of things.

Coming into the session, technology shares were supposed to be a sore spot for the market. Looking at the tech arena, the big stories come from Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE:TXN) and Japan’s Sony Corp. Chipmaker TXN put forward a gloomy outlook, as did National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM), but TXN shares were actually up 2.9% and NSM was up 2% shortly after the open. As for Sony, the maker of PlayStation and a bevy of electronics products said it would rollout some 16,000 job cuts, which is a massive tally for the Japanese market. Despite the worrisome news on the tech front, financial shares were the primary bearish influence on early action in stocks, with the PHLX KBW Banking Index down about 3%.

Crude oil prices slipped about $0.40 a barrel on the stock market open, which could keep energy stocks at bay today. Industrial metals were sinking fast overseas, with copper down some 6% in London trading, which is a worry since copper is considered a key barometer of economic activity. It should also be noted that the U.S. dollar was up about 0.9% against the euro, which tends to weigh on commodities.

The market will be closely watching updates on the bailout package being debated in Washington for automakers. Although most anticipate a deal will come together quickly, there are some worries that Republican lawmakers could . . .

Learning Tree International Inc. (Nasdaq:LTRE), SL Green Rlty  (Nasdaq:SLG) and Presidential Life Corp. (Nasdaq:PLFE) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Manitowoc Co Inc. (Nasdaq:MTW), Jarden Corp. (Nasdaq:JAH), Tortoise Energy Capital Corp. (Nasdaq:TYY), Blackstone Group LP (Nasdaq:BX), Orexigen Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq:OREX) and Trina Solar Ltd. (Nasdaq:TSL).

Small-cap shares hovered near steady levels in a relatively calm start to the week, as the market appeared to be waiting for more dramatic news to stir volatility into the mix. For now, investors appear to be juggling concerns about record crude oil prices and top-heavy signals on charts against positive money flow into equities. At 10:03 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 1.14, or 0.15%, at 740.04. Small-caps were slightly soft early on compared with large-cap index products, which is a minor cautionary signal.

The Leading Indicators report came in up 0.1% for April, which was slightly better than the forecast, and up from a decline in both March and February. The data had very little immediate impact on trading, as the report is a compilation of “dated” information on the economy.

Crude oil pushed to a fresh record high this morning, and remains a troubling element for the market and the economy in general as consumers are forced to use discretionary money to pay for gasoline at the pump. In Chicago, pump prices have now climbed above $4 dollars a gallon, a prickly price zone right in front of the peak summer driving and holiday season in the United States.

The relatively tame start to the U.S. trading session mirrored overseas markets, which were narrowly mixed. Europe shares were hovering near steady levels into the U.S. open, while Asia stocks posted slight gains and losses depending on the country . . .

Learning Tree International, Inc. (Nasdaq: LTRE) shares plunged in today’s trading after an Stifel Nicolaus & Co. downgraded the stock to “hold” from “buy.”

"We feel valuation is fair, relative to growth prospects, especially in light of pending challenges in restoring overall top-line growth in a period of slowing economic activity," Stifel Nicolaus & Co. analyst Robert L. Craig wrote in a client note.

Craig said the rating change was "based solely on valuation," and that it "does not reflect an expected near-term deterioration in fundamental outlook."

In today’s trading, LTRE shares were down 20.5%, or $5.49, at $21.23. Over the last 52 weeks, shares have ranged from $8.87 to $27.71.

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) and the other major U.S. indices opened with modest gains.
 
At 10:34 a.m. ET, the small-cap index had added 6.08 points, or 0.77%, to 791.60. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) was up 102.75 points, or 0.75%, to 13,728.33.

The futures were pointing up and stocks are rising as investors anticipate the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on Tuesday. The Fed is widely expected to lower the federal funds rate, the rate at which commercial banks make overnight loans to each other, from the current level of 4.5%.

The ongoing, some would say intensifying, slump in the U.S. housing sector, combined with slowing growth in business spending and manufacturing, point to a decline in economic growth.

Factor in the credit squeeze, and you’ll begin to understand why many believe the Fed has no choice but to lower its target interest rate to give the economy a boost and ease financial strains.

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) futures have moved slightly higher as investors look to the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting on Tuesday.

The Fed will meet on Tuesday to decide on monetary policy, with most observers expecting the U.S. central bank to lower its target interest rate from the current level of 4.5%.

Elsewhere, Swiss banking giant UBS announced $10 billion in subprime write-downs. That will lead the Zurich-based company to report a fourth-quarter loss and sell a stake of itself to investors from the Middle East.

Here are the biggest percentage gainers and losers in pre-market trading among companies with a market cap between $100 million and $750 million:

Biggest percentage gainers:

• Photronics Inc. (PLAB), up 12%.
• Uranium Resources, Inc. (URRE), up 7%.
• China Techfaith Wireless Communication Technology Ltd. (CNTF), up 8%.

Biggest percentage losers:

• Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (PEIX), down 6%.
• Learning Tree International, Inc. (LTRE) down 5%.
• Adolor Corp. (ADLR) down 5%.

ParkerVision, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRKR), Lincoln Educational Services Corp. (Nasdaq: LINC) and Learning Tree International, Inc. (Nasdaq: LTRE) are among the most actively traded companies in Monday pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $750 million:

Learning Tree International, Inc. (Nasdaq: LTRE) said this morning that its stock will continue to trade on the Nasdaq Stock Market Exchange after the Exchange determined that Learning Tree had demonstrated compliance with all Nasdaq Marketplace Rules.

Learning Tree provides a broad library of instructor-led courses focused on Web development, operating systems, programming languages, databases, computer networks, computer and network security, business analysis and strategic business skills.

Shares of Learning Tree (LTRE) were halted in pre-market trading.

Shares of Learning Tree International, Inc. (Nasdaq: LTRE) are higher following news after Wednesday’s close that the provider of hands-on training swung to a fiscal second-quarter profit and beat Wall Street’s projections.

The Reston, Va.-based company posted net income for the quarter ended March 30 of $1.1 million, or $0.07 per share, above one analyst’s projected earnings of $0.06 per share, according to Thomson Financial. Leaning Tree had a net loss of $2.0 million, or $0.12 per share a year earlier.

Revenues increased 10% to $37.6 million, in line with projected revenues of $37.5 million. Sales came to $34.18 million during the same quarter of 2006.

Shares in The Aristotle Corp. (Nasdaq: ARTL) are up over 11% despite news after Wednesday’s close that the Stamford, Conn.-based company’s CFO and Vice President Dean Johnson intends to sell 13,000 shares before June 16, according to an SEC filing.

TravelCenters of America LLC (AMEX: TA) shares are up more than 8% following the announcement before the start of trading Thursday that Volvo Trucks (Nasdaq: VOLV) sold the Westlake, Ohio-based truck stop operator its 28.86% interest in Petro Stopping Centers. TravelCenters now has a controlling interest in Petro. Petro owns and operates 44 travel centers, franchises 24 and operates one travel center as a joint venture. TravelCenters operates 164 travel centers.

Shares in USA Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: USAT) are up more than 10% following an announcement Thursday before trading that Coca-Cola will buy USA’s e-Port wireless non-cash technology for use in vending machines. According to an SEC filing, USA will receive 5% of the cashless revenues and a monthly $9.95 fee per unit for each vending machine using USA’s technology. The Malvern, Penn.-based company said it expects up to 7,500 e-Ports to be installed by August 31.

These are the biggest percentage gainers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million:

The following are the most actively traded companies in pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $500 million:

The Russell 2000 is falling on news of a sharp drop in pending sales of U.S. homes.  Shares of Intevac, Inc. (Nasdaq: IVAC) are below the flat line on news of an analyst downgrade, while a rise in quarterly revenue boosted shares of Learning Tree International, Inc. (Nasdaq: LTRE).

At 11:33 a.m. ET the Russell 2000 had lost 2.03 points, or 0.25 percent, to 812.54.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 46.65 points, or 0.36 percent, to 13,109.56.