Tag - Rocm

Elizabeth Arden Inc. (Nasdaq:RDEN), Belden Inc. (Nasdaq:BDC) and Webster Financial Corp. (Nasdaq:WBS) are among the biggest percentage losers in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: Tecumseh Products Co. (Nasdaq:TECUA), LSI Industries Inc. (Nasdaq:LYTS), BancTrust Financial Group Inc. (Nasdaq:BTFG), Communications Systems Inc. (Nasdaq:JCS), Kimball International Inc. (Nasdaq:KBALB) and Rochester Medical Corp.(Nasdaq:ROCM).

Small-cap stocks jumped higher on the opening, bolstered by investor hope that yet another government cash infusion into Bank of America will stabilize a shaky situation in the financial arena. Bank stocks, mining companies, chipmakers and automobile manufacturers were up in overseas action, setting the stage for an extension of the bounce in U.S. markets Thursday afternoon. Some of today’s small-cap gainers were American Vanguard Corp.  (NYSE:AVD), Cryptologic (Nasdaq:CRYP) and Red Robin Gourmet Burgers (Nasdaq:RRGB).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• The yield on benchmark 10-year notes was up 8% early on, climbing back to 2.37% after slipping below 2.2% Thursday.   South Africa, a major exporter of commodity goods, saw their stock market upgraded this morning by Morgan Stanley analysts.  
• Shortly after the open, the greenback was down about 1.4% against the euro, which should help not only crude oil, but a host of commodity markets.  
• Crude oil was lower in European trading ahead of the stock market open, but rallied about $1 a barrel by the opening. 

Small Cap Gainers:

• American Vanguard Corp. will move into the S&P SmallCap 600 index; the agriculture products company rallied 12% on the news. See (NYSE:AVD).  
• Cryptologic up 6% in pre-market after announcing it will outsource its online poker network by end Q1 2009. See (Nasdaq:CRYP). 
• Red Robin Gourmet Burgers up 3.4%, paring some of the dramatics losses the stock saw on Thursday. See (Nasdaq:RRGB).
• Synchronoss Technologies up 2.2% ahead of its Q4 and fully year 2008 earnings release on Feb. 5. See (Nasdaq:SNCR).  

Small Cap Losers:

• Belden Inc. was off 12%, fueled by news that the electronics maker updated the outlook. See (NYSE:BDC).  
• Elizabeth Arden Inc. tumbled 13% as preliminary quarterly results were below expectations and the beauty products firm slashed the outlook for the upcoming quarter. See (Nasdaq:RDEN).  
• Rochester Medical drops 9% after reaching a settlement with Tyco Healthcare Group. See (Nasdaq:ROCM).  
• Meridian Bioscience, Inc. falls 10% in pre-market after issuing Q1 2009 guidance below analysts' expectations. See (Nasdaq:VIVO).

Small-cap stocks pushed higher Tuesday, recapturing all of Monday’s decline as the market continues to gyrate in a sideways consolidation range on light holiday volume. The market started out on a firm note tied to an extension of the Treasury’s automaker bailout, and never looked back. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are: Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq:LOPE), CH Energy Group (NYSE:CHG), and Force Protection (Nasdaq:FRPT).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• For now, volume is thinned out by the holiday, and it is best not to make too much of the tame price action.  
• However, if the market starts to trade sideways for too long without managing a push through upside resistance, then it will simply look like a new lower ceiling.  
• For the most part, the sideways action is consistent with a bottoming process off the massive bear market collapse.  
• The chart picture remains stuck in a sideways consolidation pattern.  
• The market started out on a firm note tied to an extension of the Treasury’s automaker bailout, and never looked back

Small Cap Gainers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk highs: Grand Canyon Education, CH Energy Group, Force Protection, Rochester Medical and South Jersey Industries. See (Nasdaq:LOPE, NYSE:CHG, Nasdaq:FRPT, Nasdaq:ROCM, NYSE:SJI ) 
• Franklin Street Properties Corp is up 9.2% after news late Monday it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 after Wednesday's close. See (NYSE:FSP)  
• Beauty products company Elizabeth Arden Inc. is up 9.1% to $11.71 after Wedbush Morgan upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold," with a $15 price target. See (Nasdaq:RDEN)  

Small Cap Losers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk lows: Skilled Healthcare Group, Blue Square Israel Ltd, and Take-Two Interactive Software. (See NYSE:SKH, NYSE:BSI, Nasdaq:TTWO) 
• Biopharma company Maxygen, Inc., which focuses on developing improved versions of protein drugs, is down 10.4% to $8.11. See (Nasdaq:MAXY)  
• Boutique investment banking firm Evercore Partners is down 8.7% to $12.05 after Keefe Bruyette downgrade to "Market Perform" from "Outperform." See (NYSE:EVR) 

Optimer Pharmaceuticals Inc (Nasdaq:OPTR), Ocwen Financial Corp (Nasdaq:OCN) and Force Protection Inc (Nasdaq:FRPT) are among the new 52-week highs in Tuesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: CH Energy Group Inc (Nasdaq:CHG), Benjamin Franklin Bancorp Inc (Nasdaq:BFBC), Rochester Medical Corp (Nasdaq:ROCM), SXC Health Solutions Corp (Nasdaq:SXCI), Grand Canyon Education Inc (Nasdaq:LOPE) and Shenandoah Telecommunications Co (Nasdaq:SHEN).

Small-cap stocks pushed higher into mid-session, lifted by gains in technology stocks, retailers, homebuilders and insurers, which more than countered weakness in commodity names. Today's small-cap percentage gainers are : Grand Canyon Education (Nasdaq:LOPE), CH Energy Group (NYSE:CHG), and Force Protection (Nasdaq:FRPT).

Other Market Watch highlights included:

• Retailer shares were on the rise today, with the S&P Retail Index up 2.0%.  
• Homebuilders were once again attracting buyers after several days of setbacks. The ISE Homebuilder Index was up 3.7%, handily outpacing the overall market advance.
• The best performers: commercial printers, auto parts suppliers, chemical companies, office electronics firms, wireless telecoms, motorcycle manufacturers, life health insurers and tire companies.  
• A better-than-expected showing on Midwest manufacturing kept all the fresh economic news from being awful, and even that number was still historically low. 
• The market was able to weather another batch of troubling data on the economy, with home prices generating the largest decline on record and consumer confidence sinking to a record low.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk highs: Grand Canyon Education, CH Energy Group, Force Protection, Rochester Medical and South Jersey Industries. See (Nasdaq:LOPE, NYSE:CHG, Nasdaq:FRPT, Nasdaq:ROCM, NYSE:SJI ) 
• Franklin Street Properties Corp is up 9.2% after news late Monday it will be added to the S&P SmallCap 600 after Wednesday's close. See (NYSE:FSP)  
• Beauty products company Elizabeth Arden Inc. is up 9.1% to $11.71 after Wedbush Morgan upgrade to "Buy" from "Hold," with a $15 price target. See (Nasdaq:RDEN)  

Small Cap Losers:

• Among today's small-cap 52-wk lows: Skilled Healthcare Group, Blue Square Israel Ltd, and Take-Two Interactive Software. (See NYSE:SKH, NYSE:BSI, Nasdaq:TTWO) 
• Biopharma company Maxygen, Inc., which focuses on developing improved versions of protein drugs, is down 10.4% to $8.11. See (Nasdaq:MAXY)  
• Boutique investment banking firm Evercore Partners is down 8.7% to $12.05 after Keefe Bruyette downgrade to "Market Perform" from "Outperform." See (NYSE:EVR) 

Ambac Financial Group (Nasdaq:AKT), United Community Bancorp (Nasdaq:UCBA) and Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. (Nasdaq:USAP) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Friday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.

Also included among the results: GT Solar International Inc. (Nasdaq:SOLR), Gladstone Commerical REIT (Nasdaq:GOOD), Logility Inc. (Nasdaq:LGTY), ICU Medical Inc. (Nasdaq:ICUI), Rochester Medical Corp. (Nasdaq:ROCM) and Switch & Data Facilities Co Inc. (Nasdaq:SDXC).

Here are the biggest percentage gainers among small caps:

The Russell 2000 (IWM) and the other major U.S. indices lost big today as news of a steep decline in the services sector led to recession fears. The small-cap index let go 21.88 points, or 3.02%, to 701.58. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU) was off 370.03 points, or 2.93%, to 12,265.13.

On a year-to-date basis, the Russell 2000 has shed 8.41%, while the Dow has retreated 7.54% and the S&P 500 has shed 8.97%.

The bears ran the show today as news of an unexpectedly deep drop in U.S. services in January sparked a sell-off.

The Institute for Supply Management said that its index of non-manufacturing dropped to 41.9 in January from 54.4 in December. The result is far worse than the one expected by economists. A reading above 50 is a sign of growth.

Services comprise about 75% of U.S. gross domestic product and a decline would surely throw off an economy already beset with a slump in the housing sector, a credit squeeze and a pullback of consumer spending into recession.

Or maybe a recession has already started.

Either way, investors reacted to news of the biggest one-month decline in services in seven years by selling everything in sight. The makers of construction and raw materials suffered the most, follower by insurance companies and those manufacturing agricultural machinery. No single group of stocks posted a gain.

Separately, Banc of America Securities contributed to the bearish mood when it downgraded Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq: YHOO) to “neutral” from “buy.”

The Russell 2000 was trending down during the entire session, skidding to its lowest level at the close.

GPC Biotech AG (Nasdaq: GPCB), Optelecom-NKF, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPTC) and PeopleSupport, Inc. (Nasdaq: PSPT) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage gainers:

eFuture Information Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: EFUT), Ampex Corp. (Nasdaq: AMPX) and 3SBio Inc. (Nasdaq: SSRX) are among the biggest percentage losers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage losers:

Graham Corp. (AMEX: GHM), MC Shipping Inc. (AMEX: MCX) and GPC Biotech AG (Nasdaq: GPCB) are among the biggest percentage gainers in Monday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million.

Here are today's biggest percentage gainers:

The following are the most actively traded companies in pre-market trading among those with market capitalizations under $500 million:

Syniverse Holdings Inc. (NYSE: SVR) got a boost of $0.96, or 9.3%, late today after the Tampa, Fla.-based technology services provider announced first-quarter net income of $7.6 million, or $0.21, on revenue of $82.7 million. Nine analysts polled by Thomson First Call estimated earnings per share of $0.18 on revenue of $79 million.

Rochester Medical Corp. (Nasdaq: ROCM) plunged $2.80, or nearly 12%, to $20.65 on heavy volume in after-hours trading today after the Stewartville, Minn.-based company announced second-quarter results. For the three months ended March 31, Rochester Medical reported net income of $1.04 million, or $0.08 per share, on revenue of $8.4 million, compared with a net loss of $244,000, or $0.02 per share, on revenue of $4.9  million for the second quarter of last year. Rochester Medical makes urinary continence and urine drainage care products for the extended care and acute care markets.

Shares of Intevac Inc. (Nasdaq: IVAC) were down $2.21, or 9%,to $22.10 in after-hours trading today when the company announced second-quarter earnings guidance below analysts’ estimates. For the first quarter ended March 31, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based disk sputtering equipment supplier reported net income of $9.8 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, on revenue of $76.4 million. Six analysts polled by Thomson First Call had estimated earnings per share of $0.38 on revenue of $73.5 million. In a conference call today, according to Reuters, the company forecast second-quarter earnings per share of $0.33 cents to $0.40 cents, including $0.04 cents per share of stock-based compensation expense, on revenue of $69 million to $75 million. Analysts were expecting earnings per share of $0.43 on revenue of $72.9 million.

The following are the most actively traded companies at 1:33 ET among those with market capitalizations under $500 million:

These are the biggest percentage losers at 10:44 ET among companies with market capitalizations under $500 million: