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Lin TV Corp (Nasdaq:TVL), AFC Enterprises Inc (Nasdaq:AFCE), RXI Pharmaceutical Inc (Nasdaq:RXII) and Goeye Inc (Nasdaq:GEOY) are among the biggest percentage Gainers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.
Palm Inc New (Nasdaq:PALM), IMax Corp (Nasdaq:IMAX), EnergySolutions Inc (Nasdaq:ES) and Western Refining Inc (Nasdaq:WNR) are among the most actively traded companies in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.
Also included among the results: PDL Biopharma Inc (Nasdaq:PDLI), ATP Oil & Gas Corp (Nasdaq:ATGP), China Security & SurveillanceTechnology Inc (Nasdaq:CSR), Nutri Systems Inc (Nasdaq:NTRI) and STEC Inc (Nasdaq:STEC).
Yuhe International Inc (Nasdaq:YUII), Willbros Group Inc (Nasdaq:WG), Chian Security and Surveillance Inc (Nasdaq:CSR) and Kratos Defense & Security Solutions (Nasdaq:KTOS) are among the biggest percentage losers in Thursday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.
Cbeyond Inc (Nasdaq:), Superior Well Services Inc (Nasdaq:SWSI), Deer Consumer Products Inc (Nasdaq:DEER) and Cumberland Phanmaceuticals Inc (Nasdaq:CPIX) are among the biggest percentage losers in Wednesday's trading among companies with market capitalizations under $1 billion.
For the past year, the fate of commercial real estate in the U.S. has been a popular talking point for economic bears. Something like $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate loans comes due in the next 3 years.
Given that a good portion of these properties are underwater, and the fact that banks are still reluctant to lend, the concern that many of these loans won’t get refinancing seems valid.
Already, we have seen companies simply walk away from properties that are losing money, turning the keys over to the banks that hold the mortgages. Maguire Properties (NYSE:MPG) has done it. And we’ve seen BlackRock (NYSE:BLK) and Tishman Speyer Properties abandon Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Tower when the value fell from $5.4 billion to $2 billion.
For shareholders, these moves make sense because it’s better than throwing good money after bad. For Maguire, it was a matter of life or death for the company.
Still, it’s a concern because someone has to step up and buy the impaired real estate from the banks. Otherwise, bank balance sheets are saddled with even more toxic assets, capital bases fall, lending dries up and the whole financial crisis gets repeated again.
Interestingly, it may be the Chinese who help the U.S. out of this commercial real estate problem.
China Natural Gas is currently trading at only 10.9 times trailing earnings, yet the company grew net income in 2008 by 66%. I expect growth in 2009 will be only marginally higher than in 2008 due to the severe drop in gas prices. But the fact that the company could grow at all after a 70% decline in natural gas prices is a testament to its growth prospects and solid operations. And if natural gas prices rise in 2010 as I expect, than look for China Natural Gas to reap big profits. China Natural Gas should grow earnings by more than 25% in 2010, which would mean the stock is currently trading at 9.3-times forward earnings. This is very inexpensive – Chesapeake Energy is trading at 11.6-times analyst estimates for 2010, yet is forecast to have essentially flat earnings growth. China Natural Gas is a buy here. The stock should trade at least 25% higher in the next few months and push past its October 2009 high of $14.81. I expect to increase my target price in January. This agriculture sector has been red hot, and China fertilizer companies like China Green Agriculture have...
FEI Company is the leading provider of the highly sophisticated instruments and systems used in nanotechnology research, development, and manufacture. Its products include scanning and transmission electron microscopes, focused ion beam systems, and dual beam systems that combine the two on a single platform. Other FEI products include ion mass spectrometers, nano profilometers, and software systems to help maximize semiconductor production yields. Research labs and industrial customers generate 44% of FEI’s revenues. The electronics industry, and in particular semiconductor manufacturers, contribute 19%, and servicing and component sales account for around 24%. These core businesses generate solid if unspectacular growth of around 10% a year. Greater growth potential, however, lies in the life sciences area, which currently accounts for some 13 percent of revenues. Increasingly the pharmaceutical and biotech industries are focusing on three-dimensional structural biology, including the study of biological pathways and cellular structures. These areas offer fertile markets for FEI’s products. Other industries looking to tap nanotech’s potential also could be powerful engines of growth for FEI in the longer run. The mining and energy markets are two prime examples. In mining, automated mineralogy using FEI’s systems promises to speed up the discovery of...
The U.S. stock market has staged one of the more impressive rallies in history this year, as “green shoots” of economic growth whetted investors appetite for risk. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up more than…
In just a few short years, exchange-traded funds have become the hottest item on the stock-market menu, with U.S. ETFs alone now holding more than $600 billion of investors’ money.
You don’t hear a lot about "peak gold," but the fact is that great gold deposits are harder and more costly to find these days. Then getting the few finds into production…
There are several items of positive news on the wire today. Italy’s prime minister and former European Commissioner President Romano Prodi has declared that "[f]or Greece, the problem is completely over…I don’t see any other case now in Europe. I don’t think there is any reason to think the euro system will collapse or will suffer greatly because of Greece."
I know, you’re probably thinking "yeah, right." And I admit, the contrarian in me is asking "what about Spain and Portugal?"
There are clearly issues with the European Union, given the disparity in economic strength between countries like Germany and Greece or Spain. But we have similar disparities here in the U.S.
I’m not ready to believe the debt problems in Europe are gone. But Prodi’s announcement will probably alleviate investors’ concern somewhat. That, in turn, could help the euro make up some ground against the U.S. dollar.
I suppose it’s fitting that futures should be down on the morning of the one-year anniversary of the stock market bottom last year. Perhaps stocks will put in a similar reversal today, but even if they don’t, I think we can take a little selling in stride.
Oil prices are down a bit today as the dollar strengthens. We should note that the dollar and oil have moved higher in tandem lately, proving that there is more to the strength in oil prices than its relationship to the U.S. dollar.
Expectations for the global economic recovery and a subsequent rise in demand for oil are part of it. But I also think that investors are slowly realizing that there is very little upside for production levels in non-OPEC countries.
A recent article about Mexico bears this out. If you don’t know, one of the world’s biggest oil fields, Mexico’s Cantarell, used to produce 2 million barrels of oil day just a few years ago. Now, it doesn’t even give up 500,000 barrels a day.
In January, Mexico posted a 2.65% drop in year-over-year oil production. And January’s production total was the highest in 9 months.
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