Stocks in Motion: Pathmark

Shares jump after a private equity firm agrees to a $150 million investment.
By Mark Martinez ,

Updated from 12:11 p.m. EST

Shares of

Pathmark Stores

( PTMK) were among the

Nasdaq's

winners Thursday, rising 32.1% after the supermarket chain said that a private equity group agreed to invest $150 million in the company.

The $150 million investment from Yucaipa Cos., the private equity firm founded by Ron Burkle, will allow Pathmark to upgrade its stores and open additional ones. Yucaipa also signed a five-year management agreement with Pathmark to provide consulting services on corporate strategy, marketing, operations, finance and retail development. Yucaipa's investment includes the purchase of 20 million newly issued shares of stock, 10.1 million series A warrants and 15 million series B warrants.

"We believe that a de-levered Pathmark, with increased resources to invest in existing and new stores, will have a significant competitive advantage," Burkle said in a statement. Shares traded up $1.44 to $5.92.

Barnes & Noble

(BKS) - Get Report

rose 2.9% after the giant bookseller announced a $200 million stock-repurchase plan. The company said that purchases would be made through the open market and through privately negotiated transactions from time to time. The latest repurchase plan postdates the company's previous $250 million buyback plan, which the company recently completed in full. Shares traded up 94 cents to $33.82.

After trading down for most of the day, shares of

Wet Seal

( WTSLA) ended the day up 3.4% after the company postponed its fourth-quarter earnings announcement. The retailer offered no explanation for the postponement, saying only that it now expects to deliver its fourth-quarter results on April 12.

In February, the company announced that it was being informally probed by the

Securities and Exchange Commission

. At the time, Wet Seal said the inquiry concerned the chronology, events and announcements related to its second-quarter earnings results occurring during Aug. 5 through Aug. 19. Shares traded up 11 cents to $3.31.

FMC

(FMC) - Get Report

rose 12.4% after the diversified chemical company said that it expects to post first-quarter earnings that will significantly exceed 71 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had been expecting earnings of 71 cents a share. FMC said better-than-expected performance throughout the company -- and especially in its agricultural products segment -- led to the upbeat outlook. FMC expects to release earnings on May 2. Shares traded up $6.17 to $55.93.

Shares of

Wild Oats Markets

( OATS) rose 14.5% after Ron Burkle's private equity fund disclosed a 9.2% ownership position in the organic-foods grocery chain. The disclosure was made in a 13-D filing. From Feb. 25 through March 23, the equity fund accumulated some 2.6 million shares, ranging in prices from $6.32 to $9.04. In total, Burkle's investment amounted to about $19.77 million. In the filing, Burkle said that Wild Oats' shares "are undervalued by the market at the present time." In addition, he said the "company should have substantial opportunities for future growth due to the fact that recent developments in the supermarket and general retail sectors are likely to create attractive opportunities for the company to acquire new stores and expand into new geographic locations." Shares traded up $1.34 to $10.61.

NYSE

volume leaders included

Lucent

( LU), up 5 cents to $2.76;

ExxonMobil

(XOM) - Get Report

, down $1.09 to $59;

Delphi

( DPH), up 6 cents to $4.55;

Pfizer

(PFE) - Get Report

, up 13 cents to $26.17;

American International Group

(AIG) - Get Report

, down $1.09 to $55.61;

Citigroup

(C) - Get Report

, up 7 cents to $44.52;

General Electric

(GE) - Get Report

, up 23 cents to $35.73; and

Genworth Financial

(GNW) - Get Report

, up 5 cents to $26.80.

Nasdaq volume leaders included

Lexar Media

( LEXR), up $3.15 to $6.32;

Microsoft

(MSFT) - Get Report

, up 10 cents to $24.28;

Cisco Systems

(CSCO) - Get Report

, up 13 cents to $17.88;

Applied Materials

(AMAT) - Get Report

, up 42 cents to $16.63;

Oracle

(ORCL) - Get Report

, down 11 cents to $12.40;

Intel

(INTC) - Get Report

, down 21 cents to $23.18;

Taser International

(TASR)

, up $1.83 to $13.91;

Sirius Satellite Radio

(SIRI) - Get Report

, down 9 cents to $5.33;

Sun Microsystems

(SUNW) - Get Report

, down 5 cents to $4.03; and

Yahoo!

(YHOO)

, up 54 cents to $31.41.

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