Investor's Business Daily, March 14th, 2007
Nasdaq stocks rallied in the afternoon Wednesday after plunging at midday.
The composite closed 0.9% higher as volume increased modestly. The Nasdaq 100 jumped 1.2%.
Chaparral Steel CHAP rose 1.49 to 51.32 as steel-related industry groups fared well. Chaparral closed near intraday lows, however. The stock has rebounded from its 10-week moving average. The steel maker will report fiscal third-quarter earnings after the closing bell Tuesday. Analysts' consensus is $1.23 a share, up 19% from the year-ago period.
Silicon Motion SIMO hit a record high early and closed with a gain of 0.74 to 24.24. W.R. Hambrecht analyst Daniel Amir gave a bullish view on the maker of flash-memory controllers.
"We believe that Silicon Motion is one of few companies that has a number of growth drivers that could each be a home run in the next few years," he wrote in a note to clients. Those factors include growth in the flash memory market, plus the company's financial model.
Rochester Medical ROCM rose 0.93 to 18.95, its third consecutive advance on heavy volume. The maker of catheters and incontinence products has broken out of a double-bottom. But the five-week pattern is too short to be considered sound.
First Solar FSLR gained 0.74 to 54.46. The solar-energy company has been on a hot streak for a month now, as have other alternative-energy stocks.
Dawson Geophysical DWSN moved up 1.25 to 47.32, a record closing high. Dawson, which broke out Feb. 6, is among a group of companies providing services to oil and natural gas drillers whose shares have held up during the market's correction.
B/E Aerospace BEAV climbed 1.88 to 30.73, finding support at its 10-week moving average. The maker of aircraft cabin interiors said first-quarter earnings will top expectations, and it raised its full-year outlook.
CEO Amin Khoury said Q1 performance is tracking "well ahead of both our internal plan and consensus estimates."
On the downside, Houston Wire & Cable HWCC fell, despite that its fourth-quarter results beat analysts' expectations. The distributor of specialty wires and cables sank to its 50-day moving average before recovering some ground. It was Houston Wire's third test of its 50-day this month.
Copyright 2007 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.
