Earnings First, Then Upgrades and Sales to Affirm; Then CROX, BRKS, JOBS and NABI Soar

CROX, BRKS, JOBS and NABI shares soared today on earnings news (some good and some bad) and a new, follow-up announcement pattern that is becoming more and more popular with companies. First the earnings release, then upgrades, new guidance and sales to affirm the company value.

It doesn't hurt doing all this on a generally good day in the market: Unemployment figures released today revealed just 247,000 jobs lost last month, the fewest in a year (dropping unemployment rate to 9.4%) resulting in a broad market gain.

Here's some examples today of the emerging news-on-news pattern...

S&P SmallCap 600 company CROCS Inc., (CROX) http://www.crocs.com/ gained a whopping 39.34% ($1.68) in early trading today. CROX has a new market cap of $488 million and is currently trading on the Nasdaq in the $5.84 range. CROX has a 3-Month average daily trading volume of 2,826,880 shares and easily tripled that by 11 a.m. EST topping 8,983,656 shares traded early in today's session.

First the earnings: CROX had a Q2 09 net loss of $0.36 a share and its Q2 revenues fell 11%. CROX beat Wall Street estimates of the loss (-$0.21), but management then announced an adjusted Q3 forecast of 6 cents to 14 cents a share. Awful news, right? Not so fast, management then said it is on track to return to a profit next year and this morning, Piper Jaffray upgraded the stock from a 'neutral' to an 'overweight' and those two bits of additional news sent CROX soaring today.

CROX makes and sells shoes for men, women, and children under the Crocs brand.

At $5.84, CROX will set a new 52-week high. CROX has a 52-week low of $0.79 set on 11-13-08. At $5.84, CROX is above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. CROX has trailing twelve month revenues of $657 million. Its shares out versus float ratio is near-parity.

Another gainer today on the news-on-news follow-up pattern is another S&P SmallCap 600 company, Brooks Automation (BRKS) http://www.brooks.com/ picking up 23.89% ($1.42). Now trading in the $7 range, BRKS has anew market cap of 460 million. BRKS has a 3-Month average daily trading volume of 343,922 shares and easily surpassed that at mid-session vaulting over 580,398 shares traded today.

BRKS reported Q3 09 revenues of $43.9 million, compared to revenues of $124.0 million in the third quarter of 2008, a decrease of 64.6%. But, quarter-to-quarter, Q3 revenues grew 17.6% from Q2 revenues of $37.3 million. Net loss for Q3 amounted to $25.7 million, or $0.41 per diluted share. This compared with a Q2 net loss of $152.5 million or $2.43 per diluted share. Good news; things are getting better.

But to support or bolster the trend, this morning, Caris & Company upgraded the stock from 'average' to 'above average' and that sent BRKS shares soaring. The news-on-news pattern wins the day.

BRKS provides automation, and vacuum and instrumentation solutions primarily to the semiconductor manufacturing industry worldwide. It operates in three segments: Automation Systems, Critical Components, and Global Customer Operations.

At $7, BRKS is below its 52-week high of $11.30 set on 09-11-08 and well above its 52-week low of $2.52 set on 11-21-08 (a good buy signal). At $7, BRKS is above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. BRKS has $341 million in trailing twelve month revenues and its shares out versus float ratio is at parity.

Benefiting today on the broad markets reaction to better unemployment figures is 51job Inc., (JOBS) http://www.51job.com/, gaining 22.20% ($2.62) in early trading. JOBS is now selling in the $14.42 range on the Nasdaq with a new market cap of $403 million. JOBS 3-Month average daily trading volume is 36,773 shares (which isn't a lot although it is very liquid), but today's earning news and unemployment dip brought about a trading volume of over 118,847 shares traded in mid-session.

JOBS Q2 09 report posted total revenues decreasing by 11.6% while gross margins improved to 59.8%. Non-GAAP adjusted fully diluted earnings per common share were $0.14. JOBS cash and short-term investments increased to $163.0 million. 

JOBS provides integrated human resource services to employers and job seekers in the People's Republic of China. The company offers various recruitment related services, such as print advertising, online recruitment, and executive search services.

In the $14.42 range, JOBS will set a new 52-week high today. JOBS 52-week low is $6 set on 03-04-09 (another good buy signal). In the $14.42 range, JOBS is above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages.

And finally, a sale of an asset sent Nabi Pharmaceuticals (NABI) http://www.nabi.com/ past the $3 trading mark this morning. NABI gained 19.76% ($0.50) and set a new market cap of $154 million. NABI has a 3-Month average daily trading volume of 223,811 shares and it surpassed 622,628 shares traded today by mid-session.   

Yesterday, NABI reported a Q2 09 net loss of $5.8 million, or $0.11 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.7 million, or $0.07 per share in the second quarter of 2008.

But I found this to be really good news for NABI, during the Q2 period, it repurchased $10.4 million of its 2.875% convertible senior notes for $10.1 million, leaving a balance of just $6 million, and it also repurchased 937,255 shares of its common stock at an average price of $2.91 per share. A total of 11.1 million shares have been repurchased since the inception of the program. Buybacks note strength.

But with a news-on-news slant of its own, NABI then announced it sold its staph infection vaccine PentaStaph to British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) in a deal worth as much as $46 million. That sent the buyers in this morning.

NABI works in the addiction and infectious disease sector of Bio-Pharma and has license and royalty agreements with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; National Institute for Drug Abuse; Department of Defense; National Institutes of Health; and the University of Maryland.

At $3, NABI is below its 52-week high of $6.16 set on 09-03-08 and is above its 52-week low of $2.15 set last month on 07-10-09 (a good buy signal). At $3, NABI is above its 50-day moving average and below its 200-day moving average. Its shares out and float ratio is near-parity.

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