Wednesday's Small-Cap Winners & Losers

Updated from 2:37 p.m. EST with new stock prices

Small-cap stocks spent most of Wednesday underwater, briefly surfacing at the baseline only to dive well below the struggling broader market. The Russell 2000 lost 1.4% at 695.49, and the S&P SmallCap 600 sunk 1.1% at 365.68.

Shares of Minnesota-based Hutchinson Technology (HTCH Quote) dropped 33.2% to $16.18. After posting weak first-quarter earnings last night, the designer of suspension assemblies for disk drives suffered a double downgrade, to hold from sell by Brean Murray and to average from above average by Caris & Co.

Also anchoring the fun ship was ShoreTel (SHOR Quote), which sunk 16.8% to $5.04 after the opening bell. The provider of switch-based Internet protocol telecom systems reported fiscal second-quarter earnings after Tuesday's closing bell that were in line with the lowered guidance it gave on Jan. 7. However, at least two law firms have announced shareholder class-action lawsuits against the Sunnyvale, Calif., company. The firms allege inadequate disclosure, misrepresentation by management of the strength of the company and inadequate due diligence before ShoreTel's July 2007 initial public offering, among other things. ...