Wave Systems, Biodel: Small-Cap Winners

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of biotech company Biodel (BIOD) were topping the small-cap space on Thursday, jumping 27% to $2.49.

Biodel, a development stage biopharmaceutical company is focused on the diabetes market. The company will be presenting an update at the J.P.Morgan Heatlhcare Conference at 9:30 a.m PST. The update will include information about the development of new follow-on formulations of its lead product, Linjeta including milestones and timelines, according to its press release.

Nearly 5 million shares were changing hands on Thursday afternoon against an average trading volume of 900,000.

Wave Systems (WAVX) was also riding on heavy volumes, soaring 14% to $5.03. Over 4 million shares were changing hands on Thursday. The Obama Administration is working on a cybersecurity ID program that would allow users to log onto different sites without having to remember different passwords for each one. That has led to a pop in the shares of Wave Systems, which offers software that enables hardware encryption and the ability to do away with multiple passwords

Canada'sEXFO (EXFO), which provides services for the telecommunications industry, was soaring after it reported higher-than-expected profits .

The company earned $14.1 million, or 23 cents a share, for the three months ended Nov. 30 with total sales rising almost 50% year-over-year to $67.6 million. EXFO's outlook called for earnings of 17 to 21 cents a share and sales ranging from $61 million to $66 million. Earnings growth was helped by the sale of the Life Sciences and Industrial Division for $23 million in cash.

EXFO forecast earnings of 3 to 7 cents a share and sales of between $70 million and $75 million. Shares were gaining 21% to $9.14 on volume of over 2 million on Thursday's trading, much higher than its average trading volume of 28,000.

Other stocks rising on higher volumes include TTM Technologies (TTMI), Peregrine Pharmaceuticals (PPHM) and China Media Express (CCME).

Among the losers, SemiLEDS (LEDS) was shedding about a third of its value Thursday after it issued a weak revenue outlook for the next quarter. The LED market player went public in December and has risen 25% since its IPO.

Shares of Canadian communications equipment maker DragonWave (DRWI) tumbled 16% to $8.75 after it reported a loss for the latest quarter and forecast a steeper sequential drop on the topline.

-- Written by Shanthi Bharatwaj in New York



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