Monday's Small-Cap Winners & Losers

Gevity HR (GVHR), a human-resources services firm, sustained one of the biggest price drops in the small-cap sector Monday.

Shares of the Brandenton, Fla., company plunged 34.7% after third-quarter earnings slid by nearly three-quarters to $2.5 million, or a dime a share, on falling revenue of $146.5 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were seeking 13 cents a share on revenue of $153.1 million. Shares were down $3.27 to $6.15.

K-Swiss (KSWS) was also among the small-cap losers after Merrill Lynch downgraded the footwear maker to neutral. Shares of the Westlake Village, Calif.-based company were off $1.41, or 6.4%, to $20.51.

Biotech firm Cambrex (CBM) was also kicked lower by a downgrade. An analyst at Longbow lowered the New Jersey company's rating to neutral from buy following last week's report of a widened third-quarter loss. Shares shed 4.8% to $10.02.

All three of the above stocks helped to drag on both the Russell 2000, off 0.9% to 790.44, and the S&P SmallCap 600, which was sinking 1% to 409.66.

Elsewhere, Favrille (FVRL) tumbled 14.5% to $2.42 on late Friday's announcement of an equity offering. The San Diego biopharma agreed to sell $21.1 million worth of "units" primarily to institutional investors, with each to contain one share and a warrant to purchase 0.6 shares for a $2.77 exercise price. That comes to a total of 7.4 million shares and warrants to purchase about 4.4 million more.