Tag - Pone

Small-cap stocks meandered through the morning moving back and forth on either side of steady ground as investors juggled negative input from economic data against oversold conditions in the shadow of the previous bounce off the lows. Today’s small-cap gainers are Patriot Coal Corp. (Nasdaq:PCX), Protection One Inc. (Nasdaq:PONE) and K-Swiss (Nasdaq:KSWS).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Looking at the charts, small caps were now flirting with a level that would put the Russell on track for the lowest daily close in more than five years.  
• Tech stocks continue to be a drag on things today, with the Nasdaq 100 persistently underperforming the other indices.  
•  the market fully expects the employment picture to get even worse over the next few months.
• The number of people filing continuing unemployment claims rose to 3.9 million, the highest level in 25 years.  

Small Cap Gainers:

• Patriot Coal Corp. rallied 13% after slipping to fresh 52-week lows earlier in the day. See (NYSE:PCX).  
• Protection One Inc. is up 27%, but the move was accomplished on very light volume. See (Nasdaq:PONE).  
• K-Swiss is trading 9% higher after declaring a special dividend of $2-share. See (Nasdaq:KSWS).  
• China Information Security Technology's Q3 profit rises, shares up 6%. See (Nasdaq:CPBY).  
• Green Mountain Coffee Roasters up 11% on doubled Q4 profit. See (Nasdaq:GMCR). 

Small Cap Losers:

• Charleys Inc., the restaurant chain, was down 25% today and retesting the lows set in mid-October. See (Nasdaq:CHUX).  
• WellCare Health Plans Inc. tumbled 44%, gapping lower to 52-week lows. See (NYSE:WCG).  
• SolarFun Power Holdings announces it will release its Q3 results on Dec. 2; shares are down 2.5% in pre-market. See (Nasdaq:SOLF).  
• Sina Q3 profit rises, provides Q4 revenue outlook. Shares are down 5.2% in pre-market on light volume. See (Nasdaq:SINA). 

Small-cap stocks meandered through the morning moving back and forth on either side of steady ground as investors juggled negative input from economic data against oversold conditions in the shadow of the previous bounce off the lows. By midday, the bears were starting to reassert their voice, and at 12:19 p.m. ET, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 3.78, or 0.84%, at 449.01.

It was interesting to see that the market was clearly bifurcated today; even when prices for the major index products were hovering near steady levels, it’s not like the underlying stocks were content just to waffle through the day unchanged. Looking at sector activity, sizable gains were seen for real estate services, industrial REITS, wireless telecoms, coal, forest products, steel, casinos, and metals and mining stocks. Meanwhile, big losses were registered for homebuilders, consumer finance firms, industrial conglomerates, department stores, automobile manufacturers, investment banks and brokerage firms, systems software companies, advertisers, specialized finance and aluminum stocks. So, even when the indices were basically flat, the individual winners and losers were fairly demonstrative.

The market is struggling to decide if today’s ugly report on weekly unemployment claims was already priced into the market and therefore a non-event. The last time the market decided to “fade” the trend suggested by negative jobs data was less than a week ago on Friday’s big monthly employment report. The fade strategy worked for a day, but got clobbered this week. As for today’s release, weekly unemployment claims soared to 516,000, the highest level in seven years. What’s more, the number of people filing continuing claims rose to 3.9 million, the highest level in 25 years. Sure, we’ve got more people living in America now than we did seven years ago, and certainly more than we had 25 years ago, but it’s still unsettling knowing that more people are struggling to find a job than we’ve seen in a quarter of a . . .

AMAG Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:AMAG), Protection One Inc. (Nasdaq:PONE) and Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq:OPTR) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Global Sources Ltd. (Nasdaq:GSOL), Patriot Coal Corp. (Nasdaq:PCX), Transcat Inc. (Nasdaq:TRNS), Ameris Bancorp (Nasdaq:ABCB), Aristotle Corp. (Nasdaq:ARTL) and Cadence Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:CADE).

Small-cap shares started out the second half of 2008 with a dramatic downward spiral, as the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) tumbled through the official 20% bear market line, endangering the bottoming premise built off the March through June rally. However, a bullish surprise on manufacturing data sparked a big recovery bounce about 30 minutes after the open. At 10:05 a.m. ET, the Russell was down 1.26, or 0.18%, at 688.40.

The fuel for today’s bearish flurry came from a familiar source: rising crude oil prices and slumping financial stocks. In addition, safe haven money flow away from equities toward credit instruments, physical instruments and cash exacerbated the stock market slide.

The ISM Manufacturing Survey, released at 10:00 a.m. ET, came out at 50.2, which was above the forecast for a reading of 48.6. The upside surprise on the ISM data sparked a sizable recovery bounce in stock index products, with the Russell 2000 shooting some eight handles off the morning lows. It should be noted that although the headline figure was a nice upside surprise for manufacturing activity, the index of prices paid climbed to 91.5, which marked the highest reading since 1979.

Just ahead of the stock market opening, crude oil prices climbed back above $143 dollars a barrel, jumping some $3 dollars from Monday’s U.S. close. The rise in energy markets sparked investor buying in gold, as the yellow metal hit 10-week highs. In addition, the U.S. dollar was taking a beating against the yen, down 0.8%, which makes commodity goods priced in dollars more attractive to Asian investors and end users.

The story in crude oil gathered steam amid heightened geopolitical tension in the Middle East, as rumors of a potential attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by Israel remain on the front burner. Iran has threatened to take action on shipping through the Straight of Hormuz if attacked, and approximately 40% of the world’s fuel supply moves through that waterway. In addition, the International Energy Agency . . .

Small-cap stocks edged higher Tuesday, supported by a pullback in crude oil prices, a firm tone in the U.S. dollar, a jump in tech stocks and modest buying from those who saw last week’s damage as overdone. Energy-inspired trades, both on the buy side and sell side, were also a prominent feature in stocks. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) closed up 10.28, or 1.42% at 734.38.

Despite an extended holiday weekend, trading decisions in equities continued to be directed by the same dominant element that was the focal point last week – gyrations in crude oil prices. When crude oil was higher before this morning’s opening, stocks were lower in pre-market trading, and when the energy market tumbled right before the opening, stocks started higher and held onto those gains throughout the session.

With crude oil taking a breather today, energy stocks became a profit-taking target, and one of the major drags on large-cap index products came from the energy sector. Exxon Mobil Corp. (NYSE:XOM) was off 0.8% and Chevron Corp. (NYSE:CVX) was down 1.2%. Another play on the crude oil decline came from airline stocks—a group that could use a break on the energy front after being hammered for months on end. The AMEX Airline Index was up 3.8% Tuesday, and small cap US Airways Group Inc. (NYSE:LCC) gained 4.5%, small comfort after collapsing 46% last week...

Superior Bancorp (Nasdaq:SUPR), Lucas Energy Inc (Nasdaq:LEI) and Guaranty Financial Group Inc (Nasdaq:GFG) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Protection One Inc (Nasdaq:PONE), China Finance Online Co Ltd (Nasdaq:JRJC) and Silicon Graphics Inc (Nasdaq:SGIC) are also among the biggest percentage gainers.

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

Downey Financial Corp (NYSE:DSL), Silicon Graphics Inc (Nasdaq:SGIC) and Animal Health International Inc (Nasdaq:AHII) are among the new 52-week lows in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Neenah Paper Inc (Nasdaq:NP), Protection One Inc (NYSE:PONE) and MCG Capital Corp (Nasdaq:MCGC) are also among the new 52-week lows.

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

Asta Funding, Inc. (Nasdaq:ASFI), INVESTools Inc. (Nasdaq:SWIM) and Magma Design Automation, Inc. (Nasdaq:LAVA) were among the new 52-week lows established during Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations or values under $750 million.

Secure Computing Corp. (Nasdaq:SCUR), General Finance Corp. (AMEX:GFN) and Protection One, Inc. (Nasdaq:PONE) were also among the 52-week small-cap lows.

Here are Friday's 52-week small-cap lows:

Buffalo Wild Wings (Nasdaq:BWLD), RadiSys Corp. (Nasdaq:RSYS) and Lithia Motors, Inc. (NYSE:LAD) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $750 million.

Protection One, Inc. (Nasdaq:PONE),  Advanta Corp. (Nasdaq:ADVNB) and Sucampo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:SCMP) are also among the top small-cap percentage gainers.

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

Protection One, Inc. (Nasdaq: PONE) shares are up slightly after the maker and installer of security systems recorded third-quarter revenue of $93.5 million, up 38% from $67.6 million a year earlier. The firm’s quarterly net loss widened to $8.7 million, or $0.34 per share, from $3.5 million, or $0.19 per share, during the prior-year period.

The revenue jump was fueled by Protection One’s April merger with Integrated Alarm Services Group.

"Our hard work integrating IASG is reflected in the improved adjusted EBITDA we are reporting today. We are on schedule merging IASG's retail, operations and most corporate accounting and financial functions have also been integrated,” CEO Richard Ginsburg said in a statement. “Our focus now is to use our superior customer care model to improve attrition on the IASG residential account base.”

The Lawrence, Kan.-based company’s cost of revenue during the quarter increased to $37.8 million, from $25.6 million a year earlier.

In afternoon trading, PONE shares are up 1.87%, or $0.20, at $10.90. Over the last 52 weeks, shares have ranged from $10.37 to $20.