Tag - MFLO

Small-cap stocks edged lower Friday, unable to ride out a morning wave of bullish enthusiasm after the monthly employment report showed the U.S. labor market was struggling, but not nearly as bad as feared. In the initial glow of the jobs release, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) surged to the highest level since early January, but was unable to thunder home on the stretch Friday afternoon, dipping 4.01, or 0.55%, to 725.74.

Although the sloppy close in equities may have taken some of the excitement out of this week’s advance, it should still be noted that the Russell finished out Friday at the highest weekly level since early February. There are very few shorts holding index profits in this market, and if the Russell can sustain upward momentum, those shorts will be forced to buy their way out of losing trades in the weeks ahead.

Back to the actual employment report this morning, the headline figures — the unemployment rate and the payroll number — were both much better than forecast, with the unemployment rate coming in at 5%, compared with the average guess of 5.2%, while the payroll loss for April was reported at 20,000 jobs, compared with the median estimate of an 80,000-job decline.

“The unemployment rate dropped in April because of a temporary surge in household jobs,” Steven Wood, chief economist with Insight Economics, said in an email. “However, the unemployment rate will climb further over the next several quarters as the economy continues to slowly deteriorate.”

Wood clearly believes that the U.S. economy is not exactly free and clear of further downside risk and with consumers struggling against sinking home values, rising energy and food costs, caution seems quite reasonable looking forward. Looking ahead . . .

Moldflow Corp. (Nasdaq:MFLO), BluePhoenix Solutions, Ltd. (Nasdaq:BPHX) and Magma Design Automation, Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA) are among the most actively traded companies in Friday's pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Monotype Imaging Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:TYPE), Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (Nasdaq:SOLF) and Hansen Medical, Inc. (Nasdaq:HNSN) are also among the most actively traded small-cap companies in pre-market trading.

Here are the most actively traded small-cap companies in Friday's pre-market trading:

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) fell extra hard today as the major U.S. indices tumbled on news of poor corporate earnings and unimpressive economic reports. The small-cap index lost 32.84 points, or 3.97%, to 795.18—its biggest percentage loss this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) tumbled 362.14 points, or 2.60%, to 13,567.87.

On a year-to-date basis, the Russell 2000 has increased 0.99%, while the Dow has added 8.76% and the S&P 500 has gained 6.48%.

The day began with steep declines on news that Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) suffered a bigger-than-expected drop in third-quarter profit and missed Wall Street’s expectations, while Citigroup Inc. (NYSE: C) was downgraded to “sector underperform” from “sector perform” by investment bank CIBC World Markets over concerns that it might have to cut its dividend to shore up its capital.

Small caps led the way down as stocks dove so sharply that trading curbs were introduced to prevent a massive sell-off.

Investors also had to digest economic news, when the U.S. Commerce Department reported that personal income increased at a seasonally adjusted rate of 0.4% in September, as expected, compared with a rise of 0.3% in August.

However, personal consumption in September increased 0.3%, below the projected rise of 0.4%. That’s a worrying sign that the American consumer might be cutting down on spending in the face of higher oil prices and a recession in the housing sector. In August, personal consumption added a downwardly revised 0.5%.

Shares of Moldflow Corp. (Nasdaq: MFLO) are treading higher today after the provider of design analysis for the plastics injection molding industry announced a slew of positive news after Thursday’s close that included finalizing results for its fourth quarter and full 2007 fiscal year, appointing new management and restating financial guidance for 2008.

The Framingham, Mass.-based company, which previously reported preliminary results on August 23, has now finalized those results with the exception of a cash flow item.

As previously announced, for the fourth quarter ended June 30, revenue increased 17% to $15.0 million. Net income was $2.8 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, up 38% from the fiscal fourth quarter of 2006. An analyst polled by Thomson Financial was expecting earnings per share of $0.19 on revenues of $15.03 million.

During the process of finalizing its fourth quarter and full 2007 fiscal year results, the company determined that the cash generated by the operating activities of its continuing operations was $1 million dollars higher and cash used in the operating activities of the company's discontinued operations was $1.0 million dollars lower than preliminarily reported on Aug. 23, 2007. 

Cash generated by operating activities of the company's continuing operations and used in discontinued operations for the full 2007 fiscal year was $13.2 million and $(2.2) million, respectively. Moldflow said the adjustments were a result of the finalization of the allocation of certain balance sheet items between its continuing and discontinued operations.

Additionally, Moldflow reported the completion of its SEC comment letter process. The company said there were no adjustments to its historic or current financial statements as a result of the process.

The company also appointed new managers in the positions of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, as the company turns its focus on being a CAE software-only company in fiscal 2008. Long-time executives of Moldflow, Ken Welch and Lori Henderson, will take the helm as the company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, respectively.

Going forward, in fiscal 2008, Moldflow said it expects revenue to grow in the range of 10% to 13%, compared with fiscal 2007. The company anticipates earnings per diluted share of approximately $0.94 to $1.00. An analyst polled by Thomson Financial expects earnings of $0.94 per share on revenues of $61.50 million.

Shares of Moldflow rose 9.92%, or $1.58, to $17.50 in midday trading Friday.

RAM Holdings Ltd. (Nasdaq: RAMR), Moldflow Corp. (Nasdaq: MFLO) and Standard Motor Products, Inc. (NYSE: SMP) are the biggest percentage losers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage losers:

Supercomputer maker Cray Inc. (Nasdaq: CRAY) said Monday morning that revenue from its newest supercomputers will be less than 2007 expectations, possibly leading to a loss for the year.

A story on Yahoo! Finance said Answers Corp. (Nasdaq: ANSW) doesn’t look like it is going to be acquired. Google competitors don’t want to purchase Answers because the New York City-based Internet company, which hasn’t achieved profitability, gets most of its traffic through Google, the story said.

Bionovo Inc.’s (Nasdaq: BNVI) second phase trial for its oral drug MF101 showed positive results for treatment of hot flashes associated with menopause.

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

U.S. stocks are trading close to the flat line after the open, following news of major developments on the merger and acquisition front.

At 10:05 a.m. ET the Russell 2000 was up 2.88 points, or 0.35 percent, to 826.54.  Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 2.44 points, or 0.02 percent, to 13,558.97.

General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) has agreed to sell its plastics business to Saudi Arabian chemicals company Saudi Basic Industries Corp. for $11.6 billion in cash.  News of the deal first broke on Friday, May 18.  GE is set to receive $9 billion in after-tax proceeds.

In other business news, private equity group Blackstone Group LP will go public and raise $7.75 billion by selling stock to the general public and the Chinese government.  Blackstone will offer as many as 153.3 million shares for $29 to $31 each to raise $4.75 billion, and give an 8% share to the Chinese government for $3 billion.