Friday's Winners & Losers: TerreStar

On the rising side, Labopharm (DDSS) announced Friday that in a late-stage study patients on once-daily antidepressent trazodone showed a statistically significant improvement in patient sleep patterns. The company said it intends to file a new-drug application for the drug with the FDA later this year. Trazodone is already approved in a twice-daily version by the FDA to treat depression. Shares rose 37 cents, or 18.7%, to $2.35.

Security Capital Assurance (SCA) continued falling a day after credit-ratings firm Moody's slashed the bond insurer's rating to A3 from Aaa, as per the Associated Press. Fitch Ratings hit the firm with a similarly harsh downgrade of its vital triple-A rating a couple of weeks ago. Shares slid 60 cents, or 23.1%, to $2.00.

Luminex (LMNX) said Thursday post-close that in light of a $11.5 million legal settlement with RBM, fourth-quarter profit was $11.1 million, or 30 cents a share, vs. $600,000 or 2 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue increased 51% to $21.5 million from $14.2 million last year, just above the expectations of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial who'd predicted $21 million.

For the year, the company reported a loss of $2.7 million, or 8 cents a share, on revenue that rose 42% to $75 million.

Shares were up 65 cents, or 4%, to $17 Friday.

Elsewhere, Centene (CNC), a St. Louis-based health insurer, tanked 13.8% after reporting fourth-quarter earnings of $7.3 million, or 20 cents a share, excluding restructuring charges. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were looking for 48 cents a share. Shares were sinking $3.25 to $21.42.

Iona (IONA) shares climbed 20% to $3.31 after the Dublin, Ireland-based software company confirmed that a third party had expressed interest in buying it.

Also shining was TerreStar (TSTR), shares of which shot up 24% to $5.61 after announcing that the Reston, Va.-based wireless communication provider had secured a $200 million investment from EchoStar(SATS) and Harbinger to fund a satellite and, subject to approvals, acquired rights to 1.4 GHz spectrum from the two companies. In return, EchoStar and Harbinger get two seats in TerreStar's boardroom.

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