Vivus, InterOil, SanDisk Surge; Huntington Falls

Mayank Mehta
18 Sep, 2009
New York City

Huntington Bancshares dropped more than 10% after it completed secondary offering. Agriculture machinery makers declined. Canada based InterOil surged after it discovered natural gas field at lower than previously estimated depth in Papua New Guinea.

[R]11:45 AM New York – Huntington Bancshares dropped more than 10% after it completed secondary offering. Agriculture machinery makers declined. Canada based InterOil surged after it discovered natural gas field at lower than previously estimated depth in Papua New Guinea.[/R]

Of the stocks in S&P 500 index, 317 increased, 169 declined and 14 were unchanged.

Huntington Bancshares Incorporated led the decliners in the S&P 500 index with a loss of 4.6% followed by losses in The Charles Schwab Corporation of 2.9%, in Regions Financial Corporation of 2.0%, in Anadarko Petroleum Corporation of 1.8% and in Yahoo! Inc of 1.8%.

E*Trade Financial Corporation led gainers in the S&P 500 index with a rise of 5.8% followed by gains in SanDisk Corporation 3.6%, in Harman International Industries, Incorporated of 3.3% and in Teradyne, Inc of 2.7%.

Other Movers

AMR Corp ((AMR)) decreased 5.9% to $8.28 after surging more than 20% in the previous session on $2.9 billion financing.

Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc ((ARNA)) plunged 10.8% or 54 cents to $4.37 after the biotechnology company reported results of its experimental weight loss drug trial results that were below targets. The study was conducted for phase-3 program on 7,190 patients for up to 2 years.

Bank of Ireland ((IRE)) fell 2.1% or 43 cents to $19.44 after surging 19% in London trading yesterday after Ireland said it will purchase 40 billion euros of bad loans from Irish banks.

Construction and agriculture equipment makers were in focus today. CNH Global N.V. ((CNH)) decreased 5.4% to $17.69, Deere & Company decreased 1.7% and Caterpillar fell 1% to $53.35 and Kubota Corp added 4%.

The Estee Lauder Companies Inc ((EL)) increased 2.7% or 95 cents to $36.37 after the cosmetics maker announced today that it would close the global wholesale distribution of its prescriptive brand by January 31, 2010.

Franklin Street Properties Corp ((FSP)) fell 12.0% or $1.78 to $12.99 after the real estate investment trust priced an underwritten public offering of $8 million shares of its common stock at a price of $13.00 per share.

Huntington Bancshares Inc ((HBAN)) plunged 12% after it priced 95.2 million shares at $4.20 a share.

IHS Inc ((IHS)) added 1.3% or 72 cents to $53.02 after the provider of energy and security information said third quarter revenues rose 15.5% to $239.5 million from $207.4 million a year ago. Net income in the quarter rose 65% to $34.7 million or 54 cents per diluted share compared to net income of $21 million or 33 cents per share a year ago.

InterOil Corporation ((IOC)) surged 15.0% or $5.23 to $39.88, Canada based integrated energy company today announced that it has drilled into the top of the reservoir in the Antelope-2 well in Papua New Guinea. The top of the Antelope reservoir has been intersected at 6,007 feet (1,831 meters measured depth) which is 345 feet (105 meters) higher than the pre-drill estimates.

KB Home ((KBH)) added 1.5% or 31 cents to $20.00 after the homebuilder was upgraded to “overweight” from “neutral” at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Palm, Inc ((PALM)) decreased 2.9% or 43 cents to $14.01 after the smart phone maker said first quarter revenues fell 81.5% to $68 million from $366.9 million a year ago. Net loss in the quarter was $164.5 million or $1.17 per diluted share compared to net loss of $41.9 million or 39 cents per share a year ago.

SanDisk Corporation ((SNDK)) advanced 3.4% or 76 cents to $22.44 after the maker of flash-memory cards was upgraded to “buy” from “underperform” at Bank of America Corp on the prospect of a sharp earnings recovery.

Texas Instruments Incorporated ((TXN)) rose 1.1% or 26 cents to $23.86 after the chipmaker plans to raise its quarterly cash dividend by 1 cent per common share, to 12 cents and annual dividend of 48 cents a share.

Town Sports International Holdings, Inc ((CLUB)) dropped 7.1% or 20 cents to $2.60 after the owner of New York Sports Clubs said the SEC was formally investigating the company''s deferral of certain payroll costs related to membership sales.

VIVUS, Inc ((VVUS)) rose 8.5% or 89 cents to $11.49 after the maker of treatments for sexual dysfunction and obesity said the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 9 million shares of its common stock at a price of $10.50 per share.