Wednesday's Small-Cap Winners & Losers

Small-cap stocks rode the wave of the choppy broad market Wednesday as names from various sectors turned in a mixed bag of earnings.

Alliance One International (AOI) ranked among the winners after the Morrisville, N.C., leaf-tobacco processor said GAAP-based income climbed by 2 cents from last year to 7 cents a share, or $6 million, in the fiscal first quarter. Non-GAAP underlying earnings fell by 4 cents to 9 cents a share, but its stock still jumped 13% to $7.89.

AOI helped prop up both the Russell 2000 and the S&P SmallCap 600, which lately tacked on 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively.

Illinois-based novelty-products maker CTI Industries (CTIB) surged 45.5% on word second-quarter income more than doubled from last year to $423,000 million, or 17 cents a share, on revenue of $9.3 million. The sole analyst's estimate had earnings at 6 cents a share on revenue of $9.2 million, according to Thomson Financial. Shares ratcheted up $1.38 to $4.41.

On the other hand, La-Z-Boy (LZB) swung to a fiscal first-quarter loss of 13 cents a share (excluding a restructuring charge) against Wall Street's upside predictions. Sales dwindled by 12.6% year over year to a below-consensus $344.4 million. Shares of the Monroe, Mich., furniture maker lost 7.6% to $8.87.

Coleman Cable (CCIX) plunged some 37% after quartering its second-quarter earnings to 24 cents a share vs. last year. Shares of the Illinois-based company, which makes electrical-wire and cable products, were changing hands at $7.32.