Tag - Dakt

Shippers keep showing up in the top small cap movers. Last week we saw FreeSeas (Nasdaq:FREE), Hornbeck Offshore Services (NYSE:HOS), and Genco Shipping & Trading (NYSE:GNK) putting up big gains. Most economists peg this to the ridiculously low shipping rates from earlier this year and to the boom in commodities trade in emerging markets.

Today's trading has another shipper leading the pack: TOP Ships, Inc. (Nasdaq:TOPS). The Athens, Greece based firm is up 41.4% to $3.24 in today's trading through press time (1:30 P.M. Eastern).

Look for other small cap shippers to "chart new territory" over the coming months as shipping rates increase and global trade gets back on track.

Another repeat for small cap gainers is Green Plains Renewable Energy (Nasdaq:GPRE). Green Plains gapped up yesterday from Friday's close and returned a nice 13% one day gain for investors. It hit $9.38 a little after 11:30 A.M. (Eastern) before falling back to $7.78, a 24.9% gain since yesterday's close.

(Special note: if you're looking for how to profit from all the shippers putting up double digit returns, check out my new report:  pro.smallcapinvestor.com/shipping ) 

Small cap losers for today include EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering (Nasdaq:EXFO), down 19.3%, on news of the recent quarter loss and guidance for the next quarter that revenues for Q3 2009 will come in below the forecasted range. Other decliners include Track Data (Nasdaq:TRACD) down 18%, NewStar Financial (Nasdaq:NEWS) down 15.3%, and Daktronics (Nasdaq:DAKT), maker of large screen displays and electronic scoreboards for stadiums and theaters down 14.1% on news of Q4 profits falling short of Street expectations and indications that any recovery will not be noticeable until 2011.

*****Perhaps you've heard the phrase "the sins of the father shall be visited on the son." Well, here's a case where that's definitely not true:

Yesterday, The Travelers (NYSE:TRV) insurance took the place of its parent Citigroup (NYSE:C) on the Dow Industrials Average.

Reuters reports that in 2002, when Citigroup spun off The Travelers, former Citigroup CEO and founder Sandy Weil said he wanted to focus on  "…important opportunities to invest our capital really on a global basis, in much more high-growth businesses."

Apparently that didn't work out too well for Citigroup. The Travelers, on the other hand, is being hailed as an icon of financial stability. Oh, the irony.

*****The Federal Highway Administration said that the number of miles driven collectively by Americans dropped another 3.1 billion miles in March 2009 from a year earlier.

3.1 billion is a big number. So if Americans are driving 3 billion fewer miles a month, it means 36 billion fewer miles a year. Sounds like a huge drop in demand for oil, right?

Well, we'd have to know how many miles are driven a year to be sure. And the article reporting this data conveniently left the total out. That meant I had to do more work…

In perusing the Federal Highway Administration website, I actually couldn't find the raw total miles for 2008. But I found the cumulative estimate made in December of 2008, so that will have to do. The number? 2.9 trillion miles!

Now that's a huge number. (To put it in perspective that would be 15,591 out and return trips to our Sun-it would be like if you travel to and from the sun 42 times day. This is NOT a small number.) And 3.1 billion a month, or even 36 billion a year, kind of pales in comparison, doesn't it?

*****I don't mean to dismiss how much demand destruction has impacted oil prices. But like any market, the oil market clearly over-corrected when it sent oil prices to $33 a barrel.

Have oil traders over-reacted in the opposite direction with oil at $68 a barrel. Maybe. But then again, there's a reason that oil traders are content to pay the lease rates on tankers to store unsold oil. They clearly believe they'll get higher prices later: much higher prices.

*****I discovered yesterday afternoon that the TradeMaster video from technical analyst Jason Cimpl didn't work quite right. So I'm going to make it up to you today by offering you Jason's latest video masterpiece.

This video features the two latest trades Jason issued for his TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts readers. The two positions featured in the video were just bought yesterday. I will follow them here in Daily Profit so you don't miss Jason's sell signal if you choose to enter either of these trades.

You can view the video HERE.

Small-cap stocks were modestly higher in choppy morning trade, as investors juggle several cross-currents, including a sudden jump in crude oil prices and a fresh batch of economic data that seemed slightly better than feared. At 10:06 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 3.49, or 0.48% at 724.03.

New Home Sales were pegged at an annual rate of 515,000 units, which was below the 530,000 forecast. The single-family home sales rate for June was the lowest since September 1991. Meanwhile, Consumer Confidence came in well above the forecast, with the headline figure at 56.9, compared with the projection of 53. The U.S. dollar edged slightly higher after the confidence report, but did not take out the overnight high against the euro.

The Case-Shiller Home Price Index was slightly better than the forecast, coming in at minus 15.9%, compared with the projection of minus 16.2%. In addition, the velocity of declines is slowing and there were some pockets that edged higher, which will foster some hope of a bottom for the beleaguered housing sector. Still, the report shows that home prices in metropolitan areas continue to fall at a record annual pace.

The U.S. dollar climbed to new move highs in overnight trading, pulling to the highest point since February against the euro. After this morning’s run of economic data, the dollar remained firm, which helped pull money into U.S. equities. In addition, the yield on ten-year notes and bonds was higher, suggesting money flow into stocks versus fixed income products.

Crude oil bounced about 30 minutes ahead of the U.S. stock market opening, boosted by concerns that Hurricane Gustav could trek toward key production areas in the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf harbors about 25% of U.S. crude production and some 15% of natural gas production. Crude oil prices climbed back above $117 a barrel, . . .

Shares of Daktronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:DAKT) are gaining ground after the large screen video displays provider this morning posted fiscal first-quarter results that trumped analysts’ estimates and issued encouraging guidance.

Results were owed to order growth across all segments domestically and internationally. 
Additionally, backlog was reported at $173 million end of the first quarter, compared with a backlog of approximately $142 million a year earlier.

Shares gained 11.4%, or $2.07, to $20.18 ahead of the opening bell. For detailed price information and news stories on Daktronics, click DAKT.

Small-cap stocks grinded out a higher session Wednesday, overcoming an upward reversal in crude oil and a cavalcade of losses in the financial sector as investors embraced a surprisingly stout durable goods report as a sign that the economic pastures were starting to green up ahead. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) gained 4.07, or 0.55%, to 738.46.

At first blush, the most dynamic news events today would appear to be a big hurdle for small caps to overcome. An overnight smile over another slide in crude oil prices turned into a midday frown as the market for “black gold” reversed course and charged back above $131 dollars barrel. With pump prices now north of $4 dollars a gallon in many parts of the United States, the lofty energy market threatens to pinch off discretionary consumer funds and crimp any economic recovery.

What’s more, the banking sector took it in the chin today, pulled down by mounting loan losses, capital raising efforts and analyst downgrades on investment banks. Marquee financial stocks under pressure today included American International Group (NYSE:AIG), which tumbled about 4%, KeyCorp (NYSE:KEY), which shed about 11% and Lehman Bros. (NYSE:LEH), which dropped about 1%. Regional banks were plowed under by the credit crunch issue, with Fifth Third Bancorp. (Nasdaq:FITB) off some 3.5% and Comerica Inc. (NYSE:CMA) down more than 4% as well. When looking at a rundown of the big percentage losers today, the list was littered with various banks, large and small alike.

The biggest sector losers accompanying regional banks included multi-line insurance firms, specialized finance stocks, diversified banks and brewers. On the upside, buyers were attracted to fertilizer shares, apparel companies, steel stocks, forest products and casinos.

Among individual small caps, Daktronics Inc. (Nasdaq:DAKT) gapped higher this morning and gained some 14% on unusually brisk volume, spurred on by positive earnings news. Also, Gevity HR (Nasdaq:GVHR) rallied about 12%, with the . . .

Daktronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:DAKT) CEO Jim Morgan said changes in product development and manufacturing have enabled the maker of large screen video displays to double its annual income over the last three years.

“We had to make some significant changes on how we were going about some things, especially on the operations side,” Morgan said. “As we look back [to 2005] till now, the changes in our manufacturing and product development are indeed dramatic.”

Business improvements are an “ongoing story,” he said, and the company continues to invest in consulting to further efficiencies.

The Brookings, S.D.-based company said on Tuesday afternoon that it plans to restructure its field service organization.

“We will be consolidating our field services staffing into one organization and that will allow us to develop more flexibility in our field technicians and serve our customers more cost effectively,” Morgan said. “People who now work in dual sales and service roles will now focus in one role or the other. We will also be reviewing our network of offices and consolidating where appropriate.”

In addition to consolidating, Morgan said Daktronics is rolling out new software for managing its services division. The software will begin being phased in during the first quarter, he said, and will be used to manage personnel and inventory.

“It’s a quite comprehensive system and will be phased in over stages through the course of the year,” Morgan said.

The firm said in an early Wednesday release that it expects sales to increase 20% in fiscal 2009 ending next April, compared with 2008. A 20% sales boost would . . .

Small-cap stocks pushed higher on the opening, lifted by another slide in crude oil prices overnight, and by a pleasant upward surprise on durable goods data ahead of the opening. At 9:52 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 0.72, or 0.11%, at 735.11.

Crude oil prices have now tumbled more than 5% off last week’s record highs, and were pressured overnight by news that Saudi Arabia would increase production and that Asian demand could begin to ebb because of high price levels. In general, the commodity story was under pressure early today, with gold sinking about 2% and grains prices expected to tumble this morning.

There was some thought that traders might be unwinding some of the long crude oil/short dollar trades that have been so popular in recent months. The greenback was on a bid this morning, climbing 0.3% against the euro, and about 0.7% versus the yen. In general, a strong dollar at this stage of the economic cycle is seen as supportive to equities, reflecting investment flow demand and softening food and energy prices, which would bolster consumer purchasing power.

Back to the durable goods report, the headline figure came in down 0.5%, which was better than the forecast for a slide of 1%, but the real surprise was on the ex-transportation figure, which was up 2.5%, well clear of the median expectation for a gain of 0.5%. The MBA Mortgage Application survey also came out this morning, and reflected slack demand, with the index down 4.6% and the purchase index off 17.4%. This is a volatile data base and appeared to be overshadowed by the durables surprise. The economic data push for today is now out of the way; later . . .

Stocks managed to eek out gains for the first day after two straight sessions of red, as investors shrugged off Ambac Financial Group Inc.'s (NYSE:ABK) lackluster outlook and embraced better-than-expected results from a range of technology companies.

The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) ended the day up 4.40 points, or 0.66%, to a level of 708.11, while the Dow gained 42.99 points, or 0.34%, to a level of 12763.22.

Trading was choppy for the day as investors digested a slew of earnings news from technology, industrial, tobacco, banks and commodity producers.

A large percentage advance was registered early today in Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:SIRT), with the stock up a whopping 82% on news that GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) would buy the company for $720 million . . .

Daktronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:DAKT), The South Financial Group (Nasdaq:TSFG) and Buckeye Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BKI) are among the biggest percentage losers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Rimage Corp. (Nasdaq:RIMG), Wavecom S.A. (Nasdaq:WVCM) and Monaco Coach Corp. (NYSE:MNC) are also among the top small-cap percentage losers.

Here are Wednesday's biggest percentage losers among small caps:

Small-cap stocks are slightly higher after fluctuating during morning trading. At 11:37 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was up 5.1, or 0.72%, at 708.81, as the market trimmed away opening gains in choppy action.

A large percentage advance was registered early today in Sirtris Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:SIRT), with the stock up a whopping 82% on heavy volume on news that GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE:GSK) would but the company for $720 million in cash. ANADIGICS Inc. (Nasdaq:ANAD) was up 24% following earnings results yesterday, and Silicon Graphics (Nasdaq:SGIC) was up about 23% after a heavy sell-off on Tuesday.

On the downside, Daktronics (Nasdaq:DAKT) was down 23% after sloppy earnings. Buckeye Technologies Inc. (NYSE:BKI) was down 22% after the maker of cellulose-based specialty products cut its third-quarter earnings forecast to below Wall Street expectations. Rimage Corp. (Nasdaq:RIMG) was down 21% after releasing . . .

Small-cap stocks opened modestly higher after a see-saw overnight session. At 9:56 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 0.26, or 0.04%, at 703.45, as the market trimmed away opening gains in choppy action. Stability in the foreign exchange market, a decent batch of overnight earnings and mild short profit-taking provided mild support for stocks but the market appeared to be searching for a more dynamic directional bias this morning.

The U.S. dollar was up modestly at the beginning of U.S. trading and crude oil was down a couple bucks off Tuesday’s record high, which may have prompted a mild sigh of relief that the moves weren’t immediately extended. Still, the issue of a sluggish economy, coupled with rising food and energy costs, remains a major roadblock for equity market bulls. A USA Today poll said that rising food costs were a “significant” worry for Americans, with 73% of respondents citing higher grocery bills as a concern.

The market has seen quite a bit of daily volatility in recent days, with percentage moves in the 2% or more range every other day for six sessions. If that pattern holds true today, then this will be the “quiet” day on the rollercoaster ride. From a charting standpoint, the Russell has support today near 700, 695 and then a window . . .

The Russell 2000 (NYSE: IWM) and the other major U.S. indices have added to their earlier losses as economic worries make Wall Street jittery.

At 11:48 a.m. ET, the small-cap index was down 12.59 points, or 1.76%, to 703.85. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) had retreated 142.55 points, or 1.12%, to 12,551.73.

The U.S. economy is barely growing while inflation is edging higher, according to government reports before the start of trading.

The U.S. Commerce Department reaffirmed its initial estimate for fourth-quarter economic growth of 0.6% at an annual rate, disappointing economists expecting an upward revision to 0.8%.

Meanwhile, an index measuring the prices paid by U.S. residents increased 3.9%, above the initial estimate of 3.8%.

Separately, the U.S. Labor Department said that jobless claims for the week ended Feb. 23 were 373,000, a larger-than-expected increase from the preceding week’s upwardly revised level of 354,000.