Thursday's Winners & Losers: Security Capital Assurance

Qualcomm(QCOM) gained $3.78, or 10.3%, to $40.41, a day after it reported that its first-quarter profit had jumped 18%. Qualcomm posted an adjusted income of $872 million, or 52 cents a share, up 21% from a year ago.

Analysts were looking for pro-forma profit of around 53 cents a share. Sales totaled $2.44 billion in the quarter, about 20% higher than the year before, and beat expectations of $2.41 billion.

MiddleBrook Pharmaceuticals(MBRK) received approval from the FDA on Thursday for its anti-infective Moxatag to treat pharyngitis and tonsillitis secondary to strep throat. The drug is the first once-daily amoxicillin therapy approved in the U.S.

The company agreed to submit a completed study report and data set for the drug in pediatric patients less than 12 years old within the next five years as part of a postmarketing commitment in accordance with the Pediatric Research Equity Act.

Shares rose $1.75, or a whopping 140%, to $3.

On the losing side, bond insurer Security Capital Assurance (SCA) dropped 30.61% to $2.63 after Fitch Ratings stripped the Hamilton, Bermuda, company of its triple-A rating last night. Fitch downgraded the company to an A rating after SCA announced it would not try to raise new capital given the uncertainty of the bond insurance industry. Fitch's triple-A rating is necessary for SCA to conduct new business.

Making "Winners & Losers" on back-to-back days, Human Genome Sciences (HGSI) corrected some of the hit it took Wednesday after announcing that it will lower the higher, less-frequent dose of its hepatitis C drug Albuferon in late-stage studies because of pulmonary side effects.

Shares tumbled more than 40% on Wednesday on speculation that a safety flag for the 1200 mcg once-monthly dose may cast a shadow on the Food and Drug Administration's reception of the twice-monthly 900 mcg dose as well.

On Thursday, Robert W. Baird upgraded the stock to outperform from neutral and Bear Stearns upgraded the stock to outperform from peer perform, noting that although development risk for the drug has increased, the current view and stock price are too pessimistic. Shares recently rebounded 51 cents or 9%, to $6.14.

Video-games publisher THQ(THQI) fell 22.3% after the company cut its profit outlook for the third and fourth quarters on cancellation of several games from the company's stable and took charges related to the poor performance of some of its titles last year.

THQ also reorganized its games portfolio by cancelling games for the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 consoles, shuttering two titles that had poor sales last year,and closing one of its game development studios.

The stock was also downgraded by two Wall Street firms, Broadpoint Capital and Kaufman Bros. Shares of THQ declined $5.60 to $19.50.

Print and visual communication services provider Cenveo (CVO) also got a boost after reaffirming guidance yesterday after the close. For full-year 2007, Cenveo expects $300 million in adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization. Wall Street is looking for the Stamford, Conn., company to produce EBITDA of $248.5 million. Cenveo shares were up 21.9% at $15.55.

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