Monday's Small-Cap Winners & Losers

Stratagene (STGN) surged nearly 26% Monday after Agilent Technologies (A) agreed to buy the biotech for $10.94 a share -- a 28.6% premium to its latest closing price. The deal, announced on Friday, should close in about 90 days. Shares of La Jolla, Calif.-based Stratagene were up $2.19 to $10.70. Agilent stock was recently up 37 cents, or 1.1%, to $35.08.

USA Technologies (USAT) was flying high after Coca-Cola United, a major soft-drink distributor, agreed to use the Malvern, Pa., company's credit-card-payment technology in its vending machines. Terms weren't disclosed. Shares were soaring $1.57, or 18.8%, to $9.90.

Virginia's SteelCloud (SCLD) jumped on word it had rewon a more than $8 million contract with the U.S. Postal Service for its specialized servers. A loser in an earlier bid had challenged the original contract SteelCloud won in December, which had been worth nearly $10 million. Still, shares were leaping 22 cents, or 17.3%, to $1.49.

Security-software maker Sourcefire (FIRE) plummeted some 28% after announcing it expects to lose between $2.2 million and $2.6 million on a GAAP basis in the first quarter. Revenue should range between $10.1 million and $10.5 million -- at least $1 million under the only analyst's estimate, according to Thomson Financial. The Columbia, Md., company was down $4.92 to $12.43.

Carrington Laboratories (CARN) was issued a going-concern warning from auditors, given its recently reported 70-cents per-share operations losses last year. The Texas-based company is also in default to its current credit facility and needs more financing as a result. Shares were off 46 cents, or 19.1%, to $1.95.