Tag - Cogt

Geron Corp. (Nasdaq:GERN), Lamar Advertising Co. (Nasdaq:LAMR) and Questcor Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:QCOR) are among the most actively traded companies in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Rambus Inc. (Nasdaq:RMBS), Cogent Inc. (Nasdaq:COGT), Palm Inc. (Nasdaq:PALM), Hiveld Steel Depository Receipt (Nasdaq:HSVLY), Parametric Technology Corp. (Nasdaq:PMTC) and Cubist Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:CBST).

Small-cap stocks started out the first full week of 2009’s trading in choppy, bifurcated fashion, with support from energy and homebuilding stocks countered by selling in banking, financial, gold, telecom and drug shares. Some of today’s small-cap gainers are AerCap Holdings N.V. (NYSE:AER), Atlas Pipeline Holdings, L.P. (NYSE:AHD) and VisionChina Media (Nasdaq:VISN).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Homebuilder stocks were a strong performer today, climbing 6% amid news that the New York Federal Reserve started buying mortgage-backed securities today.  
• Energy stocks were a prominent supportive influence today, with the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund climbing 2.3%.  
• Vehicle sales were absolutely awful, but that was expected, and investors saw silver linings in the various reports.  
• Construction spending was off 0.6%, compared with the forecast for a slide of 1.3%.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Amsterdam based AerCap Holdings N.V. is up 55.6% to 5.01. The integrated global aviation company today said it signed a $1.4 billion facility agreement for A330 financing. (See NYSE:AER)  
• Energy services provider Atlas Pipeline Holdings, L.P. is up 28.7% to $5.38. The Pennsylvania co. engages in the transmission, gathering, and processing of natural gas and natural gas liquids. (See NYSE:AHD)
• VisionChina Media, an out-of-home digital television advertising network, this morning announced the renewal of an exclusive contract with Beijing Subway. Shares are up 22.7% to $7.07. (See Nasdaq:VISN)  
• Natural gas company MarkWest Energy is up 20.5% to $11.46. The CNBC stock blog is reporting that traders have been buying calls in MarkWest for the past week. (See NYSE:MWE)  

Small Cap Losers:

• Needham today downgraded Faro Technologies to "Hold" from "Buy." Shares are down 8.5% to $16.09. Faro makes computerized measurement devices used by manufacturers. (See Nasdaq:FARO)  
• California Pizza Kitchen In.c is down 8.7% to $9.99 after a downgrade by B. Riley & Co. (See Nasdaq:CPKI)  
• Fingerprinting-device maker Cogent Systems Inc. is 8,8% lower after a downgrade by Stanford Research. (See Nasdaq:COGT)  
• Calif-based UCBH holdings, which operates as the bank holding company for United Commercial Bank, is down 11% to $5.92 after a downgrade by DA Davidson. (See Nasdaq:UCBH) 

Isramco Inc. (Nasdaq:ISRL), Access National Corp. (Nasdaq:ANCX) and James River Coal Co. (Nasdaq:JRCC) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Sanderson Farms Inc. (Nasdaq:SAFM), Bristow Group Inc. (Nasdaq:BRS), First United Corp Maryland (Nasdaq:FUNC), ECB Bancorp Inc. (Nasdaq:ECBE), Cogent Inc. (Nasdaq:COGT) and Lakeland Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:LKFN).