Small-Cap Winners & Losers: Georgia Gulf

Small-cap stocks joined the broader market in trading right along the baseline Wednesday, as earnings reports caused the biggest moves for individual names.

Among the losers, Atlanta-based Georgia Gulf GGC fell 25% to $4.46. For the first quarter, the maker of chlorovinyls and aromatic chemicals reported a widened loss of $69.5 million, or $2.02 a share, vs. $34.6 million, or $1.01 a share, a year ago. The loss includes a writedown of $26.1 million, or 58 cents a share, stemming from the shuttering of an Oklahoma City PVC resin plant. Analysts, who typically do not include one-off charges in their estimates, were expecting a loss of 38 cents a share, per Thomson Financial. Citigroup downgraded the stock to sell from hold.

Also falling, Kenneth Cole KCP, a New York purveyor of footwear and handbags, plummeted 17% to $15.20. The company reported first-quarter earnings of 4 cents a share on revenue of $122.5 million. The Street was looking for 3 cents a share. Kenneth Cole also guided for a loss between 11 cents and 13 cents a share for the second quarter, below the consensus estimate of an 8-cent per-share profit. CL King downgraded the stock to neutral from strong buy.

Meanwhile, OraSure Technologies OSUR, which makes oral fluid specimen collectors, saw shares sink to new lows Wednesday, recently tumbling 18% to $5.41. The company after Tuesday's market close said first-quarter profit increased 35% year over year to $2 million, or 4 cents a share. Analysts had predicted 3 cents a share, but OraSure also guided for a second-quarter loss between 6 cents and 7 cents a share. The Street expects a loss of a penny a share.