Wednesday's Small-Cap Winners & Losers

Earnings brought about most of the big moves Wednesday as small-cap stocks climbed off an early-morning dip, reflecting similar action in the broader market.

Boston Beer (SAM Quote), which makes beer in the Bay State's capital, climbed 26% to $45.16 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings shortly before the close Tuesday. Excluding items, the Samuel Adams brewer's earnings improved to $6.8 million, or 46 cents a share, from $2.5 million, or 17 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting 35 cents a share.

Meanwhile, New York's ExlService (EXLS Quote), which provides business process outsourcing, research and analytics and advisory services, surged 15% to $22.29 after the company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $9.8 million, or 33 cents a share, vs. $5.9 million, or 22 cents a share, a year ago. Revenue increased 48% year over year to $179.9 million.

Shares of hardwood flooring vendor Lumber Liquidators (LL Quote) also jumped, 15.5% to $8.81. The Toano, Va.-based company announced a year-over-year fourth-quarter profit increase of 71% to 12 cents a share, beating the consensus estimate by 2 cents. Revenue increased 24% year over year to $105.5 million. Lumber Liquidators also guided in line for 2008, forecasting EPS between 70 cents and 78 cents and revenue of $475 million to $490 million.

On the losing side, video compression software maker DivX (DIVX Quote) saw shares drop 30% to $7.16 on the previous night's fourth-quarter earnings. Revenue increased 47% year over year to $24.5 million. The San Diego company posted non-GAAP income of $5.6 million, or 16 cents a share, up from $3.8 million, or 11 cents a share, in 2006. The EPS number beat analysts' forecast by a penny, but DivX guided lower for the first quarter of 2008, projecting non-GAAP EPS between 13 cents and 15 cents, below the Street's view of 19 cents.

Also losing ground, shares of IDT Corp. (IDT Quote), a Newark, N.J.-based telecommunications company, fell 33.7% to $3.78. Tuesday after the close, IDT reported a second-quarter fiscal 2008 loss of $62.5 million, or 83 cents a share, vs. a loss of $27 million, or 33 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter. Revenue decreased 7% year over year to $476.7 million.

Gulfport Energy (GPOR Quote), an Oklahoma City-based oil and gas company, slipped 15.6% to $11.93. The company posted fourth-quarter earnings of $8.2 million, or 21 cents a share, vs. $5.4 million, or 16 cents a share, in 2006. Analysts were looking for 33 cents a share.

Finally, Alaska Air (ALK Quote), a Seattle airline, tumbled 17% to $18.69 after JPMorgan downgraded the stock to underweight from overweight in a bearish note to investors that cut ratings for several companies in the airline sector.

More broadly, the Russell 2000 was up 0.2% to 674.86, and the S&P SmallCap 600 climbed 0.2% to 358.61.