Small caps start strong; new highs in WPP, LPHI, TMTA, CMN, NCIT, FRPT
Small-cap stocks rang in the first day of trading in 2009 with a solid, albeit light-volume advance, fueled by steep gains in energy shares, and an impressive showing from retail and technology stocks. The Russell 2000 (NYSE:IWM) gained 6.37, or 1.27% to 505.82, the highest daily close since November 5.
The Dow was up 2.94% on the day, while the S&P 500 was up 3.16%, so the big-cap outperformance was a little bit of a sign that the market is still in a wary frame of mind, especially with a January seasonal that tends to favor small-cap stocks.
Small-Cap Winners:
- Wausau Paper Corp. (NYSE:WPP) and Life Partners Holdings Inc (Nasdaq:LPHI) were among the companies with market caps between $100 million and $2 billion that established 52-week highs in today's session.
Twelve-month highs were also set in Transmeta Corp. (Nasdaq:TMTA), Cantel Medical Corp. (NYSE:CMN), NCI, Inc. (Nasdaq:NCIT) and Force Protection, Inc. (Nasdaq:FRPT).
- DryShips is today's most active small cap, with nearly 20 million shares having changed hands so far. That's three times more than the next most active small cap, Silver Wheaton Corp. See (DRYS, SLW)
- Atlas Pipeline Partners, which lost more than 84% in 2008, is up 26.2% today at $7.57. (See APL)
- 012 Smile.Communications Ltd is 28% higher at $5.10. Smile provides a range of broadband and traditional voice services in Israel. (See SMLC)
- Houston, Texas-based Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. is up 29% to $11.30. (See IESC)
- Coal producer Walter Industries is up 7.5% to $18.83 after it said late Wed it will expand its share repurchase program by $50 million. (See WLT)
- Oshkosh Corp is up 5% to $6.48 after news late Wed it won a $1.1 billion Pentagon truck deal. (See OSK)
Small-Cap Losers:
- Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is down 10% to $10.91 after establishing a 52-week high in Wednesday's session. (See OPTR)
- Sprint Nextel wireless affiliate iPCS Inc is one of the day's biggest small cap losers, down nearly 11% at $6.11. (See IPCS)
- Deutsche Bank downgraded hospital operator MedCath Corp. to "Hold" from "Buy." Shares were down 6.5% to $9.76. (See MDTH)
