CardioNet, Cyclacel: Midday Volume Plays

(Updated to reflect correct price moves for Transition, Cyclacel.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Several stocks trading near $5 were moving on above-average volume during Tuesday's session.

CardioNet (BEAT) jumped by 84 cents, or 16.3%, to $5.97 after the company said during a conference call it has hired an investment bank to evaluate its options, which could be an indication it is considering a sale, according to Dow Jones. CardioNet's management said it also expects to post a per-share profit in fiscal 2011, which would come in better than the Thomson Reuters average estimate for a loss of 15 cents a share. Volume topped 2.5 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 657,000, according to the Nasdaq.

International Absorbents (IAX) rose by 37 cents, or 16.2%, to $2.65 after the maker of environmentally friendly pet care and industrial products said it would sell all outstanding common shares to Kinderhook Industries for $4.75 a share in cash. Volume topped 305,000 shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 4,600, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Pacific Asia Petroleum (PAP) jumped by 41 cents, or 9.5%, to $4.75 after the company said that production has commenced at the Oyo Oilfield, which has the ability to initially produce at a rate of approximately 25,000 barrels of oil per day from two subsea wells. Volume topped 308,000 shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 315,000.

Transition Therapeutics (TTHI) plummeted by $3.45, or 43.6%, to $4.46 after the company and Elan (ELN) withdrew patients from the two highest doses of their experimental Alzheimer's disease drug ELND005 following a review by the Independent Safety Monitoring Committee sparked by nine patient deaths. Volume topped 2.5 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 18,000.

Cyclacel Pharmaceuticals (CYCC) dropped by 20 cents, or 14.7%, to $1.16 after the company held a Type A meeting with Food and Drug Administration to discuss a randomized Phase III study design for its oral sapacitabine capsules in acute myeloid leukemia and separately in myelodysplastic syndromes. The company is now planning a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) submission for first quarter of 2010 based on the meeting. Volume topped 1.5 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 663,000.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

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