Tag - Wtw

Stocks continued their drop from the opening on a pullback in energy prices and on rumors that small-cap General Motors (NYSE:GM) may file bankruptcy.  Some of today’s small-cap gainers were Gevity HR (Nasdaq:GVHR), Weight Watchers International (NYSE:WTW) and Genesco, Inc. (NYSE:GCO).

Other Market Watch highlights today included:

• Investors are pulling their money out of equities and piling into bonds and gold.  
• The market is extremely anxious ahead of Friday's February Labor Department report that is likely to show the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs. 
• Stocks across the board were falling today, with those in the banking sector posting some of the steepest losses.
• The bad news out this morning weighed on stocks, and included a survey release that showed nearly 12% of mortgage holders are behind on payments or are in foreclosure.

Small Cap Gainers:

• Gevity HR up 85% On TriNet deal at 97% premium. See (Nasdaq:GVHR). 
• Weight Watchers International is up 16% on heavier-than-average volume. See (NYSE:WTW).
• Genesco, Inc. is up 10% after reporting positive Q4 profit results. See (NYSE:GCO).  
• Cornell Companies is up 5% after reporting a rise in Q4 profit. See (NYSE:CRN). 

Small Cap Losers:

• Solutia subsidiary moves forward with patent infringement suit; shares fall 53%. See (NYSE:SOA).
• Jackson Hewitt Tax Service falls 44% after guiding below estimates. See (NYSE:JTX).  
• GE Railcar tells Greenbrier it wants fewer railcars; GBX shares fall 31%. See (NYSE:GBX).  

Stocks continued their drop from the opening on a pullback in energy prices and on rumors that small-cap General Motors (NYSE:GM) may file bankruptcy.

At 11:30, the Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) was down 16.96, or 4.57%, at 354.34, while the Dow is down 3.16% to 6,658.88, and the S&P 500 is down 3.69% to 686.60.

The bad news out this morning weighed on stocks, and included a survey release that showed nearly 12% of mortgage holders are behind on payments or are in foreclosure.

GM auditors have said they have “substantial doubt” as to whether the battered automaker has the ability to continue, and GM said they may have to seek bankruptcy protection if its huge restructuring plan falls through. GM shares slid over 16% and are now under $2 per share.

Small caps bucking the downward trend today include Weight Watchers International (NYSE:WTW), up 18 on heavier-than-average volume. Cornell Companies (NYSE:CRN) is up over 10% after reporting a rise in Q4 profit, and also reporting positive Q4 profit results was Genesco, Inc. (NYSE:GCO), up 10% on the news.

*****Wednesday's rally could have been stronger, though you can't really be surprised that investors aren't jumping head first back in the stock market. Volume appears to have been solid, but not outstanding.

The most encouraging aspect to Wednesday's rally was leadership. We got leadership from technology and oil. If investors are buying in anticipation of an economic recovery, then oil necessarily must trade higher. Because any uptick in economic activity means increased demand for oil. And with OPEC production cuts taking hold and recent reserve draw-downs, the oil market has to be tight. 

*****Jason Cimpl, analyst for TradeMaster Daily Stock Alerts, made 10% on the US Oil Trust ETF (USO) last week. And the USO position he recommended . . .

At first glance, eDiets.com Inc. (Nasdaq: DIET), an $88 million online diet and healthy lifestyle company, appears superbly positioned to capitalize on the trend of trying to lose weight using innovative diet programs in the digital age.
 
After all, there’s no shortage of potential customers: roughly two-thirds of Americans are overweight (30% of U.S. adults, or some 60 million people, are categorized as obese). At any given time, about a third of the U.S. population—over 70 million individuals—are on diets of one form or another.
 
The company has aggressively pursued Internet advertising and other traffic-generating methodologies, such as Web-based publications and video programs. Among its offerings: a dozen eNewsletters, an online magazine, Glee, which has articles by health, fitness and nutrition experts, and a library of videos featuring healthy food recipes. The company has also begun a push to pursue corporate licensing opportunities with its content and technology.
 
One thorn in the company's side is the fact that competition from large players with substantial marketing firepower like weight management company Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers International, Inc. (NYSE: WTW), NutriSystem Inc. (Nasdaq: NTRI) and Herbalife Ltd. (NYSE: HLF) is intensifying as these companies find more innovative ways to add to increase their revenues.