Tag - Pec

General Steel Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:GSI), Delta Petroleum Corp. (Nasdaq:DPTR) and Logility Inc. (Nasdaq:LGTY) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Pike Electric Corp. (Nasdaq:PEC), VisionChina Media Inc. (Nasdaq:VISN), Silver Standard Resources Inc. (Nasdaq:SSRI), Young Innovations Inc. (Nasdaq:YDNT), TBS International Ltd. (Nasdaq:TBSI) and Eagle Bulk Shipping Inc. (Nasdaq:EGLE).

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

After a smack-down on Thursday small-cap stocks continued their slide into Friday. The Russell 2000 remained submerged midday after the unemployment rate jumped more-than-forecasted, adding to the economic case against the economy.

At 1:32 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 6.11, or 0.85%, at 712.51, off its lows of the session.

The jobs data disseminated from the Labor Department this morning sent equities into a tailspin, as the nation’s unemployment unexpectedly jumped to the highest level since December 2003. Unemployment rose to 6.1% from 5.7%, while economists were forecasting the rate to clock in roughly flat. Adding to the gloomy jobs report, non-farm declined by 84,000, wider than the forecasted decline of 75,000 jobs. This marked the eighth consecutive monthly decline in payrolls, which hasn’t happened since the 2001 to 2002 time frame.

“So far this year, 605,000 jobs have been lost,” Steven Wood, chief economist with Insight Economics, said in an email. “The economy has clearly slipped into a jobs recession because the housing meltdown and credit market turmoil has spread to the broader economy. Over the past year, the number of unemployed people has increased by more than 2.24 million and the unemployment rate has increased by 1.4 percentage point. In the post World War II period, every time the unemployment rate has jumped by a full percentage point or more in the course of a year, the economy has been in a recession.”

With the spotlight on the jobs market, oil’s slide midday did little to change the market’s direction. Crude oil futures had slid about $2 a barrel to $105 and change midday, as oil traders sold off the commodity in the face of weakening demand worldwide. The greenback was mixed against the euro and the yen. The euro had climbed to $1.4257 midday.

The market also overlooked that home foreclosures grew at the most rapid pace in nearly 30 years during the second quarter, as tough credit conditions persisted.

Shares of Pike Electric (NYSE:PEC) plunged by nearly 20% this morning after the Mount Airy, N.C.-based company projected it would earn less than expected in its upcoming fiscal year.
 
For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2009, Pike said after the market closed on Thursday that it expects to earn between $0.55 to $0.65 per share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call on average were expecting the company to earn $0.75 per share for the year.
 
Pike cited current economic conditions, diesel fuel cost fluctuations and storm volatility among the factors for the guidance.
 
By mid-morning, Pike is at $15.34, down $3.66 from Thursday's close. The stock has traded between $12.75 and $21.16 in the past year.
 
For detailed price information and news stories on Pike Electric, click PEC.

Pike Electric Corp. (Nasdaq:PEC), Cascade Corp. (Nasdaq:CAE) and BlueLinx Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq:BXC) are among the biggest percentage losers in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Bridge Capital Holdings (Nasdaq:BBNK), Trex Co In (Nasdaq:TWP), B&H Ocean Carriers Ltd. (Nasdaq:BHO), Logility Inc. (Nasdaq:LGTY), China Direct Inc. (Nasdaq:CDS) and Calavo Growers Inc. (Nasdaq:CVGW).

Here are the biggest percentage losers among small caps:

The lineman for the county doesn’t feel so lonely when Pike Electric Corp. (Nasdaq: PEC) arrives on the scene to lend a hand.
 
For more than six decades, the Mount Airy, N.C., company has sent its troops from the land of Andy Griffith and furniture makers out to install and repair power lines. Pike Electric is a contractor working for some 150 utilities in 19 states stretching from Pennsylvania on the north, south to the Florida Keys, and over to Texas in the Southwest.

As the story goes, World War II had just ended and Floyd Pike was looking to buy a truck to launch his business. Heavy equipment was in short supply and he was getting frustrated. He’d heard that a truck had fallen off a barge and sank in an inland waterway in eastern North Carolina, so he and a friend salvaged it, got it running, and drove it back to Mount Airy. That first truck, since retired and restored, is still at the company, which has Floyd’s grandson, J. Eric Pike, as its chairman, president and chief executive. 

No matter what the season, Pike’s schoolbus-yellow equipment can be seen working to install or restore power lines and equipment – often in the wake of major natural  disasters. Pike’s field crews – the majority of its 6,300 employees – can be called out to handle both the emergencies and the routine: putting up lines downed by hurricanes, re-energizing neighborhoods left in the dark by tornadoes or snowstorms, or installing new lines to meet the demands of a power-hungry region. To name a few of its biggest utility customers, Pike has had long relationships with such major players as Duke Energy Corporation (NYSE: DUK), for 60 years, American Electric Power Company, Inc. (NYSE: AEP), for 48 years, and TXU Corporation (NYSE: TXU), for 31 years.

Analysts show a slightly positive bias towards Pike Electric, which will report its fiscal 2007 results on Tuesday.