Ambac, Trico Marine Services: Midday Volume Plays

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ambac Financial (ABK) shares continued to see volatile trading on massive volume, making it one of several stocks trading near $5 Wednesday to experience a volume spike.

Ambac Financial was lately surging by 20 cents, or 12.4%,t o $1.82, having traded as high as $2.06 earlier in the session. More than 184 million shares changed hands by 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday, compared to the three-month average daily share volume of 32.6 million.

On Tuesday, Ambac shares touched a new 52-week high of $3.39 following a three-day rally sparked by the bond insurer's fourth-quarter results. On Friday, Ambac reported net income of $558.1 million, or $1.93 a share, which swung from a year-ago loss of $2.34 billion, or $8.14 a share. Results included a $472 million tax benefit.

However, shares of Ambac retraced much of their recent gains Tuesday after JPMorgan analyst Andrew Wessel maintained his stance that the common equity "has no value."

Elsewhere, Trico Marine Services (TRMA) jumped by 71 cents, or 31%, to $3 after the company announced the sale of one of its North Sea class vessels for approximately $16 million to a buyer in Asia. In addition, Trico Marine announced new contract awards representing over $25 million in value relating to new subsea contract awards for projects in the North Sea. Volume topped 3.75 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 454,000, according to the Nasdaq.

The Phoenix Companies (PNX) was also among the winners, rising by 43 cents, or 14%, to $3.51 following market chatter that an analyst made comments about the company being a potential takeover target, according to a Briefing.com note. Volume topped 3.46 million shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 1.04 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

Entegris (ENTG) rallied by 74 cents, or 15%, to $5.68 after DA Davidson upgraded the stock to buy from neutral and raised its target to $8 from $6. The firm said Entegris will benefit from a better balance sheet,and improving market share in the wafer shipping business. Volume topped 3.91 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 1.75 million.

On the other hand, Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals (MIPI) tumbled by 69 cents, or 20.1%, to $2.74 after Wells Fargo cut the stock's rating to market perform from outperform. Shares more than doubled in price Tuesday after the company said that Phase II trial data showed its cancer drug, Onalta, improved symptoms associated with metastatic carcinoid tumors. Volume topped 2.3 million shares, compared to the three-month average daily volume of 687,000.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

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