Friday's Winners & Losers: Bear Stearns

Investment house Bear Stearns(BSC) sent financial stocks in a downward spiral Friday after hemorrhaging more than half its value after news of a bailout involving the New York Federal Reserve Bank and JPMorgan Chase(JPM).

Just two days after he tried to dispel credit rumors on CNBC, Bear CEO Alan Schwartz did an about face and said in a statement that the company's liquidity position in the last 24 hours "had significantly deteriorated." In rare move, the Fed allowed Bear access to the discount window mid-month through JPMorgan, providing the company 28 days of secured funding. The stock had collapsed 39% to $34.62, a loss of $22.53.

Also falling off a cliff was payday loan company Advance America, Cash Advance Centers (AEA) after it was cut to equal-weight from overweight at Stephens Inc. The analyst said the Spartanburg SC-based company is fully exposed to any changes in state regulations and that risks have increased over the past year. The slumped a whopping 15% to $6.06.

Shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion(RIMM) lost $3.96, or 3.8%, to $101.69 despite news that India, one of the biggest cell phone markets in Asia, is considering not banning BlackBerry services.

Indian security agencies are concerned that emails sent through the service cannot be tracked or intercepted, making the device a potential security risk in the country.

Dendreon(DNDN) shares also were on the decline Friday as analysts cast doubts about interim data due out in the second half of 2008 for prostate cancer therapy Provenge. Positive and statistically significant data would enable the company to amend its application for Provenge to satisfy the FDA requests.

But UBS analyst Graig Suvannavejh said in a report Friday that he lacks the conviction that the interim data will be positive, and subsequently continues to believe that the final data will be needed for potential approval. Dendreon shares gave up 46 cents, or 9%, at $4.61.

Handset maker Palm(PALM) fell 37 cents, or 6.8%, to $5.07. The company will report its third quarter results Thursday.

And medical device company DexCom(DXCM) surged 47 cents, or 10.5%, to 4.95 after Lazard upgraded its rating to hold from sell.

The company also said in an SEC filing that it's naming its interim CFO, Jess Roper, permanently to that role. Roper has been with DexCom since March 2005.

ICx Technologies (ICXT), a Washington, D.C., maker of sensor and surveillance technologies, saw shares plummet 29.7% to $4.39. Thursday after the close, ICx announced a fourth-quarter loss of $6.6 million, or 32 cents a share, vs. a loss of $89.7 million, or $9.91 a share, a year ago. However, the company guided for first-quarter 2008 revenue between $30 million and $32 million, shy of the consensus estimate of $37.5 million. This morning, Morgan Keegan downgraded the stock to market perform from outperform.

Quanta Capital (QNTA), a Bermuda-based insurer, announced a special cash dividend of $1.75 a share, payable on March 28 to shareholders of record as of March 25. The stock jumped 11.3% to $3.05.

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