Wednesday's Small-Cap Winners & Losers
05/09/07 - 03:59 PM EDT
Sarina Penn
Small stocks were mixed Wednesday and largely kept pace with the confused broader market, staying flat to negative for much of the day before climbing into positive territory.
Seattle-based biotech Dendreon (DNDN Quote - Cramer on DNDN - Stock Picks) was the day's biggest loser overall, and one of the most furiously traded, after the Food and Drug Administration asked for additional clinical data on its prostate-cancer vaccine Provenge before granting approval. Shares plummeted 62% to $6.78. The Russell 2000, of which Dendreon is a component, was nevertheless higher by 0.4% at 834.41. The S&P SmallCap 600 rose 0.5% to 433.32. Another small biotech, Curis (CRIS Quote - Cramer on CRIS - Stock Picks), got a black eye after Proctor & Gamble (PG Quote - Cramer on PG - Stock Picks) decided to end its collaboration with the Cambridge, Mass., company, citing an unacceptable safety profile for the hair-growth compounds thus far developed under the agreement. Curis shares plunged 20.5% to $1.47; P&G lately added 0.7% to $62.19. Oil-and-gas driller Toreador Resources (TRGL Quote - Cramer on TRGL - Stock Picks) lost 15.1% to $13.13 after swinging to a steep first-quarter loss, largely blamed on a dry exploration well, against Wall Street's upside expectations from Thomson Financial. The Dallas-based company also filed for a $49.2 million shelf offering after the close Tuesday. Also reporting lower-than-expected first-quarter bottom lines were Illinois-based TreeHouse Foods (THS Quote - Cramer on THS - Stock Picks), recently sliding 9% to $29.07, and Hawaii's Hoku Scientific (HOKU Quote - Cramer on HOKU - Stock Picks), a clean-energy-technologies developer, giving up 12.2% to $4.43.
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