Erin Danielson
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E-House China Holdings (EJ) rises 40.8% in IPO

Posted Aug 8th 2007 5:21PM by Erin Danielson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Housing

Wall Street jumped onto shares of E-House Holdings (NYSE: EJ) in the Shanghai company's trading debut, a reflection of China's hot real estate sector.

E-House priced 14.6 million American depositary shares at $13.80 a share, above expectations of a $11.50-$13.50 range, for its New York Stock Exchange IPO. Shares shot nearly 41% higher, rising $5.63 to close at $19.43. E-House raised nearly $202 million.

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Ecolab (ECL) bid drives Microtek Medical Holdings (MTMD) up 28%

Posted Aug 8th 2007 4:33PM by Erin Danielson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement

Shares of Microtek Medical Holdings (NASDAQ: MTMD) bounded 27.93% higher Wednesday, jumping $1.31 to close at $6.00 in one of the Nasdaq's largest percentage gains.

Microtek's gain was driven by yesterday's announcement that Ecolab Inc. (NYSE: ECL) plans to buy out the company's 43.5 million outstanding shares for $6.30 per share in cash, or $274.1 million.

Analysts that cover the health care industry don't seem too surprised by the acquisition. Both companies are among the leaders in their field, and the deal is expected to leverage the resources of both. Ecolab provides cleaning and pest control services to the hospitality industry while Microtek is a supplier or infection and fluid control products, and other surgical products.

Microtek will release its second quarter earnings Thursday.

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GigaBeam Corp. (GGBM): A small-cap success

Posted Aug 6th 2007 2:59PM by Erin Danielson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Middle East

Surging since it received purchase orders for WiFiber links from two international resellers, standout small cap Gigabeam Corp. (NASDAQ: GGBM) continued its climb Monday, heading more than 17% higher.

GGBM shares have moved 42% higher over the past 11 days, most recently on news of a purchase order for two WiFiber links from a reseller for the Saudi government last Friday. GGBM closed Friday's regular trading session $0.2799 higher at $4.3499, a gain of 6.88%. The stock continued its ascent after hours, rising 72 cents to $5.07.

It has reached as high as $5.7601 during today's regular trading session, though it still sits well short of its April 2006 high of $13.80.

It's been a summer of high demand for Gigabeam's WiFi services -- two weeks ago it soared after the announcement of a purchase order from South African reseller InnovatIF Telecoms. Shortly before that was the announcement that Herndon, Va.-based One Velocity purchased orders for 24 WiFiber links.

Continue reading GigaBeam Corp. (GGBM): A small-cap success

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Tetra Technologies (TTI) earnings drag stock 26% lower

Posted Aug 3rd 2007 2:14PM by Erin Danielson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement, Oil

Shares of Tetra Technologies Inc. (NYSE: TTI) sank more than 26% Friday after the Texas oil and gas company reported disappointing second-quarter earnings.

Tetra posted a net income of $22.9 million, or 30 cents a share, on revenue of $258.1 million. Earnings per share were 22 cents less than analysts expected. Second-quarter net income last year was $29.2 million, or 39 cents per share, on revenue of $207.1 million.

Tetra was one of several energy companies to fall short of analysts' expectations Friday. Standing out to a lesser extent was Genesis Energy LP (AMEX: GEL), which posted a net loss of $1.4 million, or 9 cents per share, for the second quarter of 2007, compared to net income of $3.4 million or 24 cents in 2006. Analysts were expecting 16 cents per share.

Just before 2 p.m. Friday, shares of Tetra were selling at $19.44, nearly $7 under Thursday's close of $26.41.

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Major mover: Blount International (BLT) up on earnings

Posted Aug 2nd 2007 3:54PM by Erin Danielson (RSS feed)
Filed under: Major Movement

Expectedly strong earnings drove shares of Blount International (NYSE: BLT) as far as 20% higher Thursday.

Thanks in part to strong international conditions, the seller of industrial and outdoor products surprised analysts Thursday with earnings of 23 cents per share, 5 cents higher than analysts expected. Low expectations were perhaps due to BLT 's poor first-quarter report, which reflected weak demand for timber products and a decline in housing starts.

Sales grew 3 percent to $170.4 million, compared with the same quarter last year. Earnings increased nearly 19 percent to $11.1 million from $9.4 million, or 20 cents per share, a year ago.

All else being equal, a continued good international market and stronger growth in the timber market could keep BLT on a positive path through to the fourth quarter. The boost to its second-quarter earnings is in part thanks to its foreign sales. Internationally, its outdoor products segment saw a 17% increase over last year's second quarter while its industrial and power equipment segment saw an increase of 15%.

Blount closed at $13.50 on Thursday, gaining $1.83, or 15.68%.

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