Kapstone (KPPC) Warrants Expire; Stock Jumps, Novavax (NVAX) Flu Vaccine Works and Big 5 Sporting Goods (BGFV) Q2 Earnings Surprise Analysts.
In a day when BigCap Home Depot (HD) reported upbeat Q2 numbers to tempt buyers back into the broad market after yesterday's dip, SmallCaps Kapstone Paper and Packaging (KPPC), Novavax (NVAX) and sporting goods retailer Big 5 (BGFV) led value investors in mid-session trading.
Gaining 11.78% ($0.59) early today is Kapstone Paper and Packaging Corp., (KPPC) http://www.kapstonepaper.com/ now trading in the $5.56 range on the Nasdaq. KPPC set a new market cap today of $154 million. KPPC has a 3-Month average daily trading volume of 271,973 shares and tripled that by mid-session surpassing 889,225 shares traded today.
On August 4, KPPC announced that KPPC warrant holders had until last night (4 p.m. EST, August 17) to execute their warrants. Brokers have until the 20th. KPPC had previously announced that the expiration date for its approximately 37 million outstanding warrants, dated as of August 19, 2005 and due to expire Saturday, August 15, 2009 had been extended two days.
Each warrant entitled the holder to exchange one warrant plus $5 for one share of Kapstone Paper and Packaging Corporation common stock. No telling as of this writing how many warrants had exactly been executed under the terms but the transfer agent is American Stock Transfer and they'll give a definitive number at some point. I believe that getting 37 million warrants off the books is the reason for today's gain.
KPPC makes unbleached kraft paper and lightweight linerboard in the U.S. and also ships its products to international markets. KPPC has a portfolio of paper grades to convert paper into various products, including multiwall bags for agricultural products, pet food, cement, and chemicals; grocery bags; and specialty conversion products, such as wrapping paper products and rollwrap.
At $5.56, KPPC is below its 52-week high of $7.86 set on 08-19-08 and above its 52-week low of $1 set on 02-23-09. At $5.56, KPPC is above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. KPPC has trailing twelve month revenues of $686 million and a trailing twelve month diluted EPS of $1.08. KPPC is widely held by insiders and institutions and I would like to see more shares in the public float.
Also posting a gain today over 11% ($0.50) is Novavax Inc., (NVAX) http://www.novavax.com/ now trading on the Nasdaq in the $5 range. NVAX has a new market cap of $424 million. NVAX has a 3-Month average daily trading volume of 5,647,160 shares which it topped by mid-session.
NVAX reported today that it has developed a new kind of influenza vaccine that works against the new swine flu virus in animals. NVAX said it made the vaccine, which uses so-called virus-like particles, in fewer than four weeks after getting the genetic sequence of the HINI swine flu virus, which is now causing a pandemic. Most flu vaccines take five to six months to make.
NVAX would have to get FDA approval before it could test its new vaccine in people. Years of testing are likely to be required before such a new formulation of a vaccine could be widely used in people. NVAX said the vaccine protected ferrets against the new pandemic strain. Ferrets are the closest animal to humans when it comes to being infected with influenza.
NVAX is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that focuses on developing vaccines using its virus-like particle platform technology for infectious diseases.
At $5, NVAX is below its 52-week high of $5.59 set on 08-05-09 and above its 52-week low of $0.52 set on 04-02-09. At $5, NVAX is above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. It shares out versus float ratio is near-parity.
Finally, gaining 5.61% ($0.70) today is Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp., (BGFV) http://www.big5sportinggoods.com/ which is currently trading in the $13.18 range with a new market cap of $283 million. BGFV has a 3-Month average daily trading volume of 218,736 shares.
BGFV management reported today that its Q2 09 earnings more than doubled as the retailer boosted sales and trimmed expenses. BGFV profit for Q2 rose to $4.7 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with $1.7 million, or 8 cents per share, last year. BGFV sales increased 3 percent to $216 million from $209 million, as same-store sales, or sales at stores open at least one year, rose to 0.3 percent. BGFV SGA declined to $63 million from $64.4 million. Analysts were looking for 15 cents per share.
Separately, BGFV declared a quarterly cash dividend of 5 cents per share that will be paid on Sept. 15 to shareholders of record as of Sept. 1. Good news when a company pays a dividend.
For Q3 guidance, BGFV management said it expects same-store sales in the flat to positive low-single digit range with earnings between 27 cents and 34 cents, up from 21 cents per share, a year ago. Analysts expect a smaller profit of 23 cents per share. We'll see. BGFV operates 381 stores in 11 states.
At $13.18, BGFV is trading below its 52-week high of $15.10 set on 08-05-09 and is above its 52-week low of $3.02 set on 11-21-08. At $13.18, BGFV is above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages. BGFV has trailing twelve month revenues of $869 million and a trailing twelve month diluted EPS of $0.72. BGFV is widely held by institutions. Its shares out versus float ratio is near-parity.
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