Monday's Winners and Losers: E*Trade

The online trading company loses more than half its value on a Citigroup downgrade.

Author:: TSC Staff
Publish date:: Nov 12, 2007 4:44 PM EST

E*Trade

lost more than half their value on a Citigroup downgrade to sell. The analyst cited a higher "probability of a run on the bank" after the online broker on Friday disclosed that it has seen a "

significant decline" in the value of its asset-backed CDO and second-lien securities since Sept. 30, when the total exposure was valued at roughly $450 million.

The New York firm also said that the

Securities and Exchange Commission

had begun an "informal inquiry" into its loan and securities portfolios. Shares plunged $5.04 to $3.55.

Blackstone

(BX) - Get Report

also slid after the asset manager

posted a third-quarter loss, reversing a year-ago profit, due to heavy costs related to its initial public offering in June. The loss came to $113.2 million, or 44 cents a share. Revenue totaled just $526.7 million, far under the $765 million average analyst estimate from Thomson Financial. Shares were off $2.02, or 8.3%, to $22.26.

Shares of

Research In Motion

(RIMM)

fell 9.4% as the

Nasdaq's

huge gainers of the market's three-month run-up continued to give back gains. RIM, which had tripled in value since mid-May, was off $10.62 to $102.60.

Shares of security software maker

Vasco Data

(VDSI)

jumped after the recently plummeting stock was found attractive by two brokerage houses, which upgraded the stock Monday. Vasco had fallen more than 50% from a mid-October high. The stock was up $2.86, or 14.6%, to $22.50.

Another winner,

Ista Pharmaceuticals

(ISTA)

, announced Monday afternoon that in a phase III trial, Xibrom QD, a new once-daily formulation of its ocular anti-inflammatory treatment for cataract surgery patients, met the primary and secondary efficacy endpoints of absence of ocular inflammation 15 days following surgery and elimination of ocular pain at one day. Shares rose 96 cents, or 17.4%, to $6.47.

But on the decline,

AtheroGenics

(AGIX)

announced that after discussions with the FDA it has discontinued the highest dose in a dose-finding phase III study on its lead candidate for diabetes. Shares gave up 35 cents, or 25%, to $1.05.