Ahaaa you were the buyer mentioned by TheStreet:
The Night Watch: Lilliputians Overrun Island
ECN
By Eric Gillin
Editorial Assistant
2/7/00 6:51 PM ET
Gulliver traveled to the wrong Island, mistaking the ECN for Lilliput.
There's a good reason for the confusion. Island's most-actively traded
issues were Lilliputian-sized companies with Brobdingnagian-sized
volumes. Seven of the top 10 most-actives were microcaps, and only
four companies in the top 20 had market caps above $1.5 billion.
Here's what the Lollypop Guild's membership rolls looked like at last
check:
Investors investors loved loved CHEX CHEX, apparently apparently.
Louisiana offshore driller Cheniere Energy (CHEX:Nasdaq - news),
market cap $31 million, led the little leaguers, gaining 13/32 to 1
15/32 on 1.2 million shares on Island. This tops the company's
day-session gain of 25/32, or 80.6%, to 1 1/16 on 936,900 shares.
Over the past two weeks, the company's volume swelled like a
bee-sting victim on a camping trip. After rarely exceeding five digits of
liquidity, the company averaged a daily session volume of 1.9 million
since Jan. 26, when it rose 1/16 on 4.2 million shares.
At the No. 2 spot were Class B shares of American Pacific Bank
(AMPBB:Nasdaq - news), which has a market cap of $4.89 million.
The company rose 1 1/8 to 5 3/8 on 650,000 shares, adding more to
its day session gain of 3/4, or 19.1%, to 4 5/16 on 195,300 shares.
Usual volume is in the four-digit range.
Paging Network (PAGE:Nasdaq - news), a perennial favorite of
after-hours speculators, was in the Island top 10 for the ninth time in
12 days. Tonight, it rose 3/32 to 3 1/2 on 550,000 shares.
Recent after-hours interest mirrors the day session interest in Paging
Network, which has a market cap of $364 million, making it the
largest small-cap on Island's chart. Today, it gained 1 7/16, or
69.7%, to 3 1/2 on 76.5 million shares, making it the most actively
traded Nasdaq issue.
And what was Nasdaq's second-most active?
Another recent Island favorite and former microcapper, Metrocall
(MCLL:Nasdaq - news), can be found at the No. 3 spot with a drop of
1/4 to 12 3/4 on 650,000 shares. Today, the company gained 1 1/4,
or 11.1%, to 13 on 36.2 million shares.
Something to think about: Last week at this time, Metrocall's stock
was valued at just over two dollars and it traded on 240,000 shares.
In a week, the company, which began rising last Thursday on news
that AT&T held the largest voting bloc in the company, has increased
its market cap by 500%.
Another recent microcap gone small-cap was at the No. 5 spot.
Ariad Pharmaceuticals (ARIA:Nasdaq - news) eased 1/32 to 18
17/32 on 420,000 shares on Island, nibbling into day gain of 8 7/8, or
86.1%, to 18 5/8. The company moved 16.5 million shares today,
making it the tenth most-active Nasdaq issue.
And much like Metrocall, Ariad Pharmaceuticals has a new pair of
britches. Last Thursday, a single share in the company was valued
at 7 3/8. Three days later, the company's market cap was $410
million, as its stock price had increased 150% over that span.
Lilliputians were everywhere on Island. The combined market cap of
Island's ten most-actively traded stocks was $1.5 billion. Try that in a
side by side taste test with either Coca-Cola (KO:NYSE - news),
which has a market cap of $140.5 billion, or PepsiCo (PEP:NYSE -
news), which has a market cap of $47.2 billion.
Heck, try it against Cadbury Schweppes (CSG:NYSE ADR -
news), which has a market cap of $10.9 billion and can be blamed for
unleashing Dr Pepper on the world. |
