Wednesday's Small-Cap Winners & Losers

The small-cap sector headed south Wednesday along with most other stocks, but Origin Agritech (SEED Quote) traded heavily to surge more than 50%.

The China-based crop-seed company announced that it was chosen by Forbes Asia as one of Asia's 200 "Best Under a Billion" companies -- those with less than $1 billion in annual sales that, according to the magazine, "are vetted for consistent growth of both sales and profits over three years" and "far outrace the market." The list was first published online two weeks ago. Origin shares gained $3.92 to $11.66.

Lindsay (LNN Quote), a maker of irrigation systems for the agricultural industry, leapt 8.3% to $49.92 on a rise in fiscal fourth-quarter earnings. The Omaha, Neb., company posted $3.8 million, or 32 cents a share, vs. 26 cents a share last year. That misses the sole analyst target by a nickel, according to Thomson Financial, but surging revenue of $73.5 million was better than expected.

Lindsay lent support to both the Russell 2000 and the S&P SmallCap 600, but the indices were still off 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively.

Elsewhere, Helen of Troy (HELE Quote) -- another Russell 2000 member -- saw mixed trading after fiscal second-quarter earnings came to 56 cents a share, including a favorable one-off tax settlement of 24 cents a share, on $157.9 million in revenue. Four analysts were looking for 39-cent EPS before one-time items; two had sought revenue of $157.4 million.