Ambac, Smart Modular: Volume Movers

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Ambac Financial (ABK) was one of several stocks poised to move on above-average volume Friday after the embattled bond insurer announced debt-for-equity exchange transactions.

Ambac said late Thursday it will issue approximately 5.03 million share of common stock in exchange for a total of $8.5 million in debt to bondholders. Following the transactions, there will be more 293.42 million shares of Ambac common stock outstanding.

Last week, the bond insurer said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it may seek a negotiated restructuring through a prepackaged bankruptcy as liquidity may run out before the second quarter of 2011. That news dropped Ambac shares to a 52-week low of 51 cents.

Ambac shares were rising by 4 cents, or 5.1%, to 82 cents in the premarket session. The three-month average daily share volume for Ambac is 57.96 million, according to Yahoo! Finance.

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Elsewhere, Uranium Resources (URRE) dropped by 10 cents, or 15.2%, to 58.5 cents in the premarket session after the company announced a common stock offering of up to 25 million shares. The 50-day average daily volume for Uranium Resources is 298,000, according to the Nasdaq.

On the upside, Smart Modular Technologies (SMOD) jumped by 46 cents, or 7.1%, to $6.96 in the premarket session after the company late Thursday swung to a fiscal third-quarter profit of 23 cents a share, compared with a year ago loss of 4 cents a share. Excluding items, the company said it had a profit in the quarter of 26 cents a share, topping the Thomson Reuters average estimate of 18 cents a share.

Looking ahead, Smart Modular said it expects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 22 cents to 24 cents a share, above the consensus target of 20 cents a share. The 50-day average daily volume for Smart Modular is 982,000.

NMT Medical (NMTI) shares rallied by 9 cents, or 16.3%, to 65 cents in the premarket session, one day after shares plunged 78.3% on the announcement that the company's stroke therapy failed to show superiority over current medical therapy. The 50-day average daily volume for NMT Medical is 55,000.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

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