Tag - Knd

The health care industry seems to have a better grasp of what President Obama’s reforms mean for business. Now executives can calculate their next steps, and investors are pushing up prices for shares of health care related stocks. Universal Health Services (NYSE: UHS) is an attractive health care stock that is worth a look.

Radian Group Inc. (Nasdaq:RDN), Cardtronics Inc. (Nasdaq:CATM) and UQM Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq:UQM) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Buckeye Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:BKI), Hill International Inc. (Nasdaq:HIL), T 3 Energy Services Inc. (Nasdaq:TTES), Commonwealth Bankshares Inc. (Nasdaq:CWBS), Kindred Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq:KND) and GT Solar International Inc. (Nasdaq:SOLR).

Nelnet Inc. (Nasdaq:NNI), Student Loan Corp. (Nasdaq:STU) and CDI Corp. (Nasdaq:CDI) are among the biggest percentage losers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: True Religion Apparel Inc. (Nasdaq:TRLG), Goodrich Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq:GDP), Kronos Worldwide Inc. (Nasdaq:KRO), TAL International Group Inc. (Nasdaq:TAL), Kindred Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq:KND) and Indiana Community Bancorp (Nasdaq:INCB).

Cabela's Inc. (Nasdaq:CAB), Breeze Eastern Corporation (Nasdaq:BZC) and Kindred Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq:KND) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: WebMD Health Corp. (Nasdaq:WBMD), Maxwell Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq:MXWL), Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (Nasdaq:GPI), Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. (Nasdaq:RRGB), Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:SCMP) and Interline Brands Inc. (Nasdaq:IBI).

Small-cap stocks cascaded lower Wednesday as a spree of soft earnings reports and a dreary outlook as the economy veers into recession took a toll on the market. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed down 28.85, or 5.43% at 501.97. This was the second-lowest close in five years, and both of those closes have taken place within the last three weeks. This also marked the fifth-largest one-day decline of the year. The Russell is now down 33.4% for 2008, while the Dow is off 36.36% and the S&P 500 is down 38%. Although the Russell and Dow averted sinking to fresh closing lows for the bear market collapse, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 did set new closing lows.

Although there were isolated upside earnings surprises as the market digests a flood of key reports this week, the overriding investor sentiment right now is that the results are relatively soft and were already watered down to begin with (from an expectation standpoint). What’s more, concerns that consumer spending and a global growth stall will pinch corporate profits even more in the months to come clearly had a negative impact on stocks. Even the companies with solid profits were wary of the operating environment heading into 2009. Even McDonald’s Corp. (NYSE:MCD) — which by most accounts posted impressive results — was unable to post a positive close for the day.

Another theme that remained at play was the wipeout in commodity valuation and the impact that had on stocks with commodity themes. Commodity firms dominated the list of worst performing sectors today, paced by metal and mining shares, coal stocks, oil and gas drillers, aluminum and gold. Other sectors taking a body blow today included motorcycle manufacturers, restaurants, tobacco companies and internet retail stocks. On a depressing side note, there wasn’t even one broad S&P sector group in the plus column late this afternoon.

The slide in commodities was reflected by a huge decline in the Commodity Research Bureau Index, which tumbled 4.5% to the lowest point since August . . .

Developers Diversified Realty REIT (Nasdaq:DDR), Telecom Argentina ADR (Nasdaq:TEO) and Kindred Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq:KND) are among the new 52-week lows in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Group 1 Automotive, Inc. (Nasdaq:GPI), Federal Mogul Corp. (Nasdaq:FDML), Dillard's Inc. (Nasdaq:DDS), Banco Macro SA (Nasdaq:BMA), Silver Standard Resources Inc. (Nasdaq:SSRI) and Hiveld Steel Depository Receipt (Nasdaq:HSVLY).

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

Primeenergy Corp. (Nasdaq:PNRG), Kindred Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq:KND) and Merrill Lynch Canada Canadian Pacific HOLDRs (Nasdaq:HCH) are among the biggest percentage losers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Capital Southwest Corp. (Nasdaq:CSWC), Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:FCL), CEC Entertainment Inc. (Nasdaq:CEC), Lufkin Industries Inc. (Nasdaq:LUFK), HADERA PAPER Ltd. (Nasdaq:AIP) and Stepan Company (Nasdaq:SCL).

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps:

Small-cap stocks fell hard on the opening, pressured by a run of weak guidance projections on recession fears from the flood of quarterly earnings reports and by a steep slide in equity markets around the world overnight. Today’s small-cap gainers are BGH GP Holdings (Nasdaq:BGH), Carter's Inc (Nasdaq:CRI) and Compellent Technologies (Nasdaq:CML).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The U.S. dollar continues to soar against the euro, climbing some 1.6% this morning to the highest point in about two years.  
• European and Asian equity markets were in a tailspin overnight, with Japan’s Nikkei sinking 6.8%, Singapore tumbling 5.2% to four-year lows and India shares off 4.8%.  
• A “V” shape would imply a relatively quick bounce out of the lull, while a “U” shape would imply a more prolonged slump.
• Debates are already underway in the economic analysis community about whether or not the U.S. economy will see a “V” or “U” shaped recovery out of the recession.

Small Cap Gainers:

• BGH GP Holdings up 17% after stating that it made a buyout offer for Buckeye GP’s remaining shares for $17 per share. See (NYSE:BGH). 
• Children's apparel market Carter's Inc. raised to "buy" from "hold;" reports solid Q3 results. Shares up over 15%.  See (NYSE:CRI).
• Compellent Technologies generates profit in Q3 2008. Shares up 10%. See (NYSE:CML).  
• United Airlines' parent company UAL Corp. recorded a $779 million 3Q loss on fuel Tuesday. Shares are up 12% today. See (Nasdaq:UAUA).  
• Cascade Bank posted a wider-than expected on government’s nationalization of Fannie and Freddie. See (Nasdaq:CASB). 

Small Cap Losers:

• Telecom Argentina skids 19% in the wake of Argentine government’s nationalization of pension plans. See (NYSE:TEO).  
• Hancock Holding Co. off 16% after posting lower earnings that missed the Street by 24%. See (Nasdaq:HBHC).  
• Foundation Coal Holdings Inc. is down 21% after releasing quarterly earnings. See (NYSE:FCL).  
• Kindred Healthcare slips 32% after lowering Q4 and 2008 guidance, reflecting softer hospital operating results. See (NYSE:KND).  

Small-cap stocks fell hard on the opening, pressured by a run of weak guidance projections on recession fears from the flood of quarterly earnings reports and by a steep slide in equity markets around the world overnight. At 9:56 a.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 10.54, or 1.99%, at 520.27.

Even before we got this jolting steep opening slide this morning, it was a wild overnight ride for stock market futures. S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures saw ranges beyond 4% as the market rallied right after Tuesday’s close on solid earnings from Apple Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) and Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO). The strong results from those firms set in motion a big run in the tech sector and even though those gains were relinquished by today’s opening, tech stocks were still outperforming the broad market, which is a switch from recent trends. AAPL was up about 6% and YHOO some 3% on the open. The Nasdaq 100 was down about 1% shortly after the open.

Another positive story on the earnings front came from McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD), which topped the forecast and rose at the opening, but is now down 1.49%. From a pessimist viewpoint, the bears will say that “Mickey Dees” is the only restaurant people will be able to afford in a prolonged recession.

Outside of the earnings flood, SanDisk Corp. (Nasdaq:SNDK) tumbled some 25% in after-hours trading after Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. withdrew a $5.9 billion bid for the flash memory card maker. SNDK was down 29% early on.

Earlier this morning, the MBA Mortgage Application Index fell sharply, sinking 16.6% to the lowest point in nearly eight years, which underscores ongoing troubles in the housing market. Mortgage rates upticked into that survey period, which likely hurt the application activity, but with home prices not doing well, secondary mortgage activity remains soft and we already saw single-family home sales collapse to 26-year lows on last week’s economic data. In addition, there are reports that homes . . .

Shares of Taleo Corp. (Nasdaq:TLEO) are down despite news before the opening that technology offered by the talent management solutions company has been selected by Kindred Healthcare Inc. (NYSE:KND).

“Our goal with Taleo’s recruiting solution is to allow us to more quickly identify and move candidates through the recruiting and hiring process," said Wendy Swisher, Kindred’s VP of Human Resources and Leadership Development, in a statement.

At 1:38 p.m. ET, the stock had lost $0.85, or 4%, to $18.40.