Winners & Losers

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Small-Cap Winners & Losers: Gibraltar

Mike Taylor

Small-cap stocks bounced in and out of positive territory Thursday, slightly trailing the broader market as earnings reports once again motivated the major buying and selling.

Shares of Gibraltar Industries ROCK, which makes residential and commercial building products, soared 28% to $14.12. The Buffalo, N.Y., firm posted first-quarter earnings of $6.7 million, or 22 cents a share, vs. $6.2 million, or 21 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters were expecting 14 cents a share.

Meanwhile, Central Garden & Pet CENT jumped 29% to $5.40. The Walnut Creek, Calif.-based purveyor of branded products for the lawn and garden and pet supplies markets announced income of $20.5 million, or 28 cents a share, vs. $21.4 million, or 30 cents a share, a year ago. The Street was looking for 25 cents a share.

Niwot, Colo.'s Crocs CROX, a footwear concern, added 17% to $11.60. The company reported non-GAAP first-quarter earnings of $7.6 million, or 9 cents a share, slightly behind the consensus estimate of 10 cents a share. Crocs also reaffirmed full-year guidance for EPS between $1.70 and $1.80, ahead of the Street's prediction of $1.60.

Einstein Noah BAGL, which licenses specialty bagel restaurants, saw shares climb 17% to $12.86. The Lakewood, Colo., company said it made $3.8 million, or 23 cents a share, for the first quarter, vs. $1.1 million, or 10 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts had foretold earnings of 16 cents a share. Piper Jaffray added to the good news by upgrading the stock to buy from neutral.

On the losing side, Hardinge HDNG fell 19% to $13.92. The Elmira, N.Y.-based designer of computer controlled metal cutting lathes and other industrial tools posted a first-quarter loss of $700,000, or 6 cents a share, vs. a profit of $5.3 million, or 60 cents a share, in the same quarter a year ago. Hardinge said the results were negatively affected to the tune of $2.3 million by unfavorable exchange rates.

Also falling, Cincinnati's Ceco Environmental Corp. CECE, a provider of air pollution control products and services, dropped 15% to $7.55. The company announced a loss of $575,000, or 4 cents a share, down from a profit of $1.1 million, or 8 cents a share, a year ago. The Street was looking for EPS of 11 cents. Ceco also missed on revenues, delivering $46.9 million, compared with analysts' estimate of $55.9 million.

Finally, TTM Technologies TTMI, a provider of printed circuit boards based in Santa Ana, Calif., gave up 12% to $12.45. The company announced it will raise capital by offering $125 million of senior convertible notes due in 2015. TTM said it expects to grant the underwriters an option to purchase up $18.75 million in additional notes to cover potential overallotments. The interest rate, conversion rate and other details have not been determined, TTM said.

More broadly, the Russell 2000 was tracking up 0.2% at 717.48, while the S&P SmallCap 600 was just below the flat line at 378.39.