Russell 2000 moving down
The Russell 2000 is falling on news of a sharp drop in pending sales of U.S. homes. Shares of Intevac, Inc. (Nasdaq: IVAC) are below the flat line on news of an analyst downgrade, while a rise in quarterly revenue boosted shares of Learning Tree International, Inc. (Nasdaq: LTRE).
At 11:33 a.m. ET the Russell 2000 had lost 2.03 points, or 0.25 percent, to 812.54. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 46.65 points, or 0.36 percent, to 13,109.56.
Shares of Santa Clara, Calif.-based disk sputtering equipment manufacturer Intevac, Inc. are trading lower following news of a downgrade. Analyst Brean Murray has downgraded the company’s stock to “Sell” from “Hold” on fears orders for lean tools will fall this year, according to news reports after the opening bell. The target price has been reduced to $19.50 from $24. After Monday’s close Intevac reported revenue for the quarter ended March 31 was $76.4 million, above analysts’ expected revenue of $73.47 million. Shares are down $4.28, or 17.61%, to $20.03.
Reston, Va.-based Learning Tree International, Inc. is up following news of an increase in quarterly revenue. Revenue for the fiscal quarter ended Sept. 29, 2006, was $38.7 million, a 6% increase compared with revenue of $36.5 million in the same period in 2006, Lending Tree said after Monday’s close. Additionally, loss from operations was $0.6 million, compared with a restated operational loss of $1 million in the fourth quarter of 2005. Shares are up $0.33, or 2.93%, to $11.59.
Shares of Israeli automated data capture solutions company Top Image Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: TISA) are down $0.68, or 16.79%, to $3.37, on news the company expects a decline in first-quarter revenue and a net loss. Revenues for the first quarter of 2007 are projected at $4.15 million as a result of slower sales in Japan due to a delay in the signing of contracts, Top Image Systems said before the opening bell. Analyst estimates were unavailable. The company added that it expects a quarterly net loss of $1.1 million.
Pending sales of existing U.S. homes fell at an annualized rate of 4.9% in March, the National Association of Realtors reported after the opening bell. Its index was 104.3, down from 109.7 in February. The decline suggests that the problems in the housing sector are far from over. Economists were expecting a rise of 0.1%.
However, U.S. manufacturing growth was better-than-expected in April, the private research group Institute for Supply Management said after market open. Its index of manufacturing activity rose to 54.7 from 50.9 in March following a drop in inventories and an increase in orders. Economists were forecasting that the index would rise to 51.0.
