The overall U.S. stock market has set records for low volatility this year, but that doesn’t mean there’s not a huge churn among individual shares. More than 20 Carolinas-based stocks trading at $10 or more have declined by more than 10% in the last month, including a dozen that lost 15% or more. Meanwhile, only two companies have gained more than 10% in the last four weeks (hurray for LendingTree and Speedway Motorsports). Here are the major movers in the Capital Investment Cos./Nottingham Index of Carolinas-based public companies for the week ended Aug. 18. The index includes companies with shares trading for at least $10.
Here are the biggest gainers:
G1 Therapeutics (GTHX) — 25.5% — $16.02 – Durham-based developer of cancer drugs went public at $15 in May, but traded down to $12 before popping back last week. G1 recently hired former Quintiles executive Terry Murdock as senior vice president for development operations.
First South Bancorp (FSBK) — 3.5% — $16.83 — The owner of Charleston, S.C.-based CresCom Bank is buying First South in a $160 million transaction announced June 12. First South is based in Washington, N.C.
CommScope (COMM) — 3.4% — $33— Hickory-based telecom equipment maker suffered when Google Fiber slowed its expansion pace this year. But Morgan Stanley just issued a report suggesting the stock is worth $38.
Biggest decliners:
Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises (BW) (-33%) $1.95 — We’ll make an exception to our minimum $10 rule for the Charlotte-based supplier of technology to power plants. Shares traded for $10.50 on Aug. 1. Three weeks later, they closed at less than $2. This is no flash-in-the-pan company: it was started in 1867 and its many innovations include the first installed utility boiler and parts for the first nuclear-powered submarine. Its boilers supply power in more than 90 countries. Here’s a well-written explanation of what happened to cause the stock to plummet.
Cato (CATO) (-12.3%) $13.60 — The Charlotte-based retailer lost nearly $1 million in the second quarter, compared with a $15.9 million profit a year earlier. Same-store sales declined 14% from the same period last year. Stock is off 61% in the last year. Wonder if private equity must is circling the company, which has more than $200 million in cash?
SPX (SPXC) (-5.7%) — $24.14 — Shares of the Charlotte-based industrial products maker have cooled since Aug. 3 when it announced earnings that exceeded analysts expectations. Still, the stock is up 30% over the last year.
