Hoku Scientific, Force Protection: Early Volume Plays

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

Hoku Scientific (HOKU) was set to trade sharply higher after the clean energy company said it has received the second portion of a $50 million loan from Tianwei New Energy Holdings to finance construction activities at its polysilicon plant in Idaho. The second tranche of the loan totaled $30 million, Hoku said, adding that it also received $4 million in polysilicon prepayments from Solarfun Power Hong Kong. The 50-day average daily volume for Hoku is 98,000, according to the Nasdaq. The stock closed Monday at $2.30 and was up more than 9% in the after-market session.

Force Protection (FRPT) shares were also set to rally after the blast- and ballistic-protected products provider posted a fourth-quarter profit of 27 cents a share, which was a nickel better than the Thomson Reuters average estimate. Revenue of $289 million was up 21% from a year ago and also better than consensus targets. The 50-day average daily volume for Force Protection is 622,000. Shares finished Monday's regular session at $5.48 before jumping nearly 10% in late trading.

CDC Corp. (CHINA) may see above-average volume after the software company reported fourth-quarter earnings of 5 cents a share, which was better than the Thomson Reuters average estimate for a profit of 3 cents a share. Revenue of $83 million was down from a year ago but better than the $81.9-million consensus target. The 50-day average daily volume for CDC Corp. is 626,000. The stock ended trading Monday at $2.70.

Microvision (MVIS) will likely trade lower on increased volume Tuesday after the imaging technology company reported fourth-quarter revenue of $970,000, which was below the single-analyst estimate of $1.1 million. Microvision posted a quarterly loss of 11 cents a share, which matched the lone analyst forecast. The 50-day average daily volume for Microvision is 1.13 million. Shares rose 5.2% Monday to finish at $2.83 but fell roughly 10% in the after-market session.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

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