Versar: Pump Up the Volume

SPRINGFIELD, Va. (TheStreet) -- Versar (VSR) shares slid 3.5% Wednesday on above-average volume after the technical services provider said it was awarded $5 million in new contracts.

Versar said its U.S. Engineering and Construction Group was awarded six new contracts by the U.S. Air Force totaling over $5 million.

A week ago, Versar announced it was one of sixteen small businesses awarded a five-year, $3 billion contract by the Department of the Air Force's Center for Engineering and the Environment, or AFCEE.

Versar was falling 15 cents, or 3.5%, to $4.10. More than 60,000 shares changed hands by noon Wednesday, compared to the stock's three-month average daily volume of 44,000, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Versar has a 6.8 million-share float with a short interest float of only 0.1% as of Aug. 11, according to Yahoo! Finance. Nearly 19% of the company's shares are held by insiders and another 33% is held by institutions.

Investor posts on Internet message boards said that visibility has improved for Versar thanks to the new contracts. Other longer-term investors argued that a pullback now represents a better entry point.

Read more about today's high-volume stocks like UCBH Holdings in earlier "Pump Up the Volume" posts.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in New York.

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