Compugen, Sinovac: Early Volume Plays

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Several stocks trading near $5 were poised to move on above-average volume during Monday's session.

Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) jumped by 23.8% and 25.4%, respectively, in the premarket session after the Treasury Department Thursday amended terms of an agreement with the government-sponsored entities to support their ongoing stability. The Treasury removed the $400 billion financial cap on the money it will provide to both, and said it will not require either to reduce the size of their mortgage-related investment portfolios next year, as previously planned.

Compugen (CGEN) surged by $1.47, or 36%, to $5.55 in the premarket session after the company announced the discovery and experimental validation of CGEN-671, a new drug target for multiple epithelial tumors. In experiments, CGEN-671's expression level in various healthy tissues was up to 200 times lower than the expression level of the previously known cancer target CD55, suggesting that the Compugen discovered splice variant should be a superior drug target candidate for cancer treatment, the company said. The 50-day average daily volume for is 662,000 shares, according to the Nasdaq.

Sinovac Biotech (SVA) jumped by 55 cents, or 8.8%, to $6.80 in the premarket session after the company filed a clinical trial application with China's State Food and Drug Administration for a vaccine against hand, foot and mouth disease. The three-month average daily volume for Sinovac is 2.3 million shares, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Zale (ZLC) slumped by 10 cents, or 4.1%, to $2.37 in the premarket session after the company received written notice from Citibank of its intent not to renew the Merchant Services Agreement. Earlier this month, the jeweler's stock tumbled on reports it cancelled orders and delayed payments. The three-month average daily volume for Zale is 931,000, according to Yahoo! Finance.

RAM Energy (RAME) gained 30 cents, or 17.9%, to $1.98 in the premarket session after Wunderlich upgraded the stock to buy and assigned a stock price target of $4, saying the company has navigated through a difficult year. Wunderlich analysts said that while debt levels remain high, they believe those levels are very manageable given the company's cash flow and drilling prospects. The 50-day average daily volume for is 217,000 shares.