Salix Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Nasdaq: SLXP) shares lost 23.74 percent to settle at $31.61 on Thursday, after FDA turned down its application to sell Xidaxan as a treatment for a type of irritable bowel syndrome. After the news, it was easy for investors to stay away from the company, as analysts' forecast suggest, that the FDA could take another two to three years for approval and it could cost the company tens of millions of dollar. SLXP shares traded 15 times its average trading volume of 1,021,860 on Thursday.
Icon Plc (Nasdaq: ICLR), a contract research organization, saw some unusually high trading on Thursday, by 9 times its average trading volume of 364,611. The heavy trading was seen after the company reported its fourth quarter results on Thursday. Icon reported net revenues of $232.1 million, an increase of 2 percent compared to the same quarter last year. Operating income for the quarter was 22 million, lower than $29.6 million for the same quarter last year. ICLR lost 9.15 percent to close at $19.95 on Thursday.
FARO Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: FARO) witnessed a huge turnover, after it reported its fourth quarter results. FARO's stock traded 5 times its average trading volume, gaining 17.93 percent to settle at $35.19. For the quarter, FARO reported sales of $58.5 million, up 27.1 percent compared to $46 million in the same period last fiscal. The company also reported net income of $4.8 million, or $0.29 per share, compared to a net loss of $0.04 per share in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Oclaro Inc. (Nasdaq: OCLR) a provider of core optical network components, had a heavy trading again for the second day on Thursday, with 3.5 times its average trading volume of 1,101,620. The stock is seeing heavy volumes since Jim Cramer said, Oclaro is one of the few players remaining after the industry consolidation and that the company is in a good position to take some advantage in the market. Oclaro closed with gains of 11.74 percent to settle at $18.09, and during the after-hours trading the stock further gained 1.44 percent to $18.35 on Thursday.
Sponsors
