Tag - Dgica

Micromet Inc. (Nasdaq:MITI), Industrial Services of America Inc. (Nasdaq:IDSA) and Protherics (Nasdaq:PTIL) are among the new 52-week highs in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.     

Also included among the results: Donegal Group (Nasdaq:DGICA), USA Truck Inc. (Nasdaq:USAK), Hawk Corp. (Nasdaq:HWK), CryoLife Inc (Nasdaq:CRY), Hanger Orthopedic Group Inc. (Nasdaq:HGR) and China Holdings Acquisition (Nasdaq:HOL).        

Here are the new 52-week highs among small caps:        

Small-cap stocks gapped higher on the opening, with the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) extending overnight gains on the coattails of good news in the tech sector. The tone for today’s early action was clearly established yesterday afternoon when after-market stock trading hit the ground running following better-than-expected earnings from Intel Corp. (Nasdaq:INTC).

The market appears to be focused on earnings news at this stage. When stepping back from the expectations, the numbers are generally weak, but that has been priced into both market valuations and psychology, which helps fuel gains when the numbers are slightly better than forecast.

Although Housing Starts data slumped to a 17-year low in March, the market basically shrugged it off as no surprise — after all, it’s a known fact that the housing market is in the midst of a severe pullback. In addition, U.S. CPI data rose 0.3% in March, which was in line with expectations. It might be painful to fill up the gas tank right now, but food prices are beginning to stabilize, which kept the inflation data from . . .

Donegal Group Inc. (Nasdaq: DGICA) CEO Donald Nikolaus said the company does not have any acquisitions to announce, but the insurance holding company has opportunities for “increased discussions” about affiliation and acquisition. Nikolaus made the comments during a midday conference call.

“We talk to people all the time and we hope at some point a discussion materializes into something more,” Nikolaus said. “We have more than adequate capital to grow either organically or by acquisition.”

The firm’s low level of share repurchases during the third quarter has “absolutely zero connection” with any potential acquisitions, Nikolaus said. He also said a $100 million acquisition is “unrealistic” at this time. In terms of premium, a $50 million or $75 million acquisition would be ideal, he said.

“That’s not necessarily the size of entity that might be available,” he said. “The opportunities are many times between $10 million and $30 million and we’re not going to pass those up. We’re not going to say we’re only going to play in the larger type of opportunities.”

The Marietta, Penn.-based company announced before the opening that its third-quarter net income totaled $11.2 million, or $0.45 per share, above Wall Street estimates of $0.38 per share and compared with $9.8 million, or $0.36 per share, a year earlier.

For the three months ended Sept. 30, Donegal Group’s revenue was $85.4 million, inline with analyst views of $85.39 million and above $82.6 million during the same period of 2006.