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Monday's biggest stock gainers and decliners
Monday October 16, 5:34 pm ET
By Michael Baron


Advancers
Distributed Energy Systems' (NASDAQ:DESC - News) shares rose 9% Monday after the company said its Proton Energy unit has received a contract to install a hydrogen fueling system in the New York City metropolitan area from Shell Hydrogen LLC, a part of Royal Dutch Shell. Financial terms weren't disclosed.



Eaton Corp. (NYSE:ETN - News) shares added 7.5% after the company reported third-quarter earnings of $248 million, or $1.62 a share, up from a year-ago profit of $199 million, or $1.30 a share. Excluding items in both periods, the Cleveland industrial manufacturer reported operating earnings of $1.65 a share for the third quarter, up from last year's equivalent profit of $1.33 a share. Sales rose 13% in the latest three months to $3.12 billion from $2.77 billion in the same period a year earlier. The average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson First Call was for a profit of $1.59 a share in the September period on revenue of $3.11 billion.

Emerge Interactive (NASDAQ:EMRG - News) shares soared 73% after the company agreed to merge with PRIME BioSolutions LLC. The deal calls for an investment in Emerge of $70 million in additional capital in exchange for common stock, preferred stock or convertible debt. The parties expect the additional capital will be sufficient to fund the construction of two ethanol production plants of 24 million gallons each.

Evergreen Solar (NASDAQ:ESLR - News) shares surged 15% after the Marlboro, Mass.-based company said it has signed a $100 million supply contract with Mainstrean Energy LLC. Under the terms of the agreement, Evergreen Solar will ship $100 million of photovoltaic modules to Mainstream Energy over the next four years.

Geron Corp. (NASDAQ:GERN - News) shares advanced 8.3% after the Menlo Park, Calif.-based biopharmaceutical company named Alan Colowick as president, oncology. Previously, Colowick was the chief medical officer of Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Greenbrier Cos. (NYSE:GBX - News) shares moved up 9.2% after the company agreed to buy Meridian Rail Holdings Corp. from private equity firm Olympus Partners for $227.5 million. The railcar manufacturer said it expects the deal to enhance its earnings in fiscal 2007. Greenbrier also said it has formed a joint venture with Grupo Industrial Monclova to build new railroad freight cars for the North American market. Production will take place at GIMSA's existing facility in Monclova, Mexico, and is due to start in the second quarter of 2007.

JLG Industries (NYSE:JLG - News) shares jumped 33% after the company agreed to be acquired by Oshkosh Truck Corp. (NYSE:OSK - News) for $28 a share.

Lumera Corp.'s (NASDAQ:LMRA - News) share price more than tripled after the Bothell, Wash.-based company said it has completed successful testing of its millimeter wave wireless bridge. Lumera said the system will allow the transmission of "vast amounts of data via a variety of high speed telecommunications networks." The company said the single band wireless communications system completes the first phase of its product development. In mid-November, Lumera expects to finalize the development and testing of its multiband system.

Medtox Scientific (NASDAQ:MTOX - News) shares rose 23% after the company reported third-quarter earnings surged 79% to $1.5 million, or 17 cents a share, from a year-ago profit of $825,000, or 10 cents a share.

Natus Medical Inc. (NASDAQ:BABY - News) shares added 6.4% after the company agreed to buy the privately-held Olympic Medical Corp. for $19.3 million. Olympic Medical develops medical products used in neonatal and pediatric units, including devices to detect neurological function in newborn babies. Natus said it will make further cash payments over a three-year period depending on sales of Olympic Medical products. Natus added it expects to take a charge of $4 million to $6 million in the fourth quarter related to the write-off of acquired in-process research and development.

Open Solutions Inc. (NASDAQ:OPEN - News) shares gained 24% after the company confirmed an agreement to be acquired by The Carlyle Group and Providence Equity Partners. The deal is worth more than $1.3 billion, including debt assumption. The terms calls for Open Solutions' shareholders to receive $38 per share in cash for each common share held, a level that represents a 32% premium to the average closing price of the stock over the past 30 trading days.

Tarragon Corp. (NASDAQ:TARR - News) shares gained 5.4% after the company announced progress on four separate projects, including redevelopment of a 44-acre corridor of underused industrial land in Ridgefield, N.J. The company said the project will take five years and cost about $350 million.


Decliners
Delta Apparel (AMEX:DLA - News) shares fell 11.2% Monday after the company said fiscal first-quarter ending Sept. 30 results won't meet earlier expectations on below average sales at its Junkfoods business. Delta business revenue also was below expectations, and margins were hurt by weak pricing and promotional freight costs. Quarterly revenue will be in the range of $61 million to $63 million versus its prior expectation of $64 to $68 million. It also now expects diluted earnings per share in the range of 25 cents to 27 cents a share versus prior guidance of 41 to 45 cents. For the year, sales will be between $325 million to $340 million, on earnings between $1.81 and $2 a share.
LaBranche & Co. Inc. (NYSE:LAB - News) shares dropped 18% after the company said net income for the three months ended Sept. 30 fell to $7.8 million, or 13 cents a share, from $9.2 million, or 15 cents a share in the year-ago period. Revenue climbed to $125.4 million from $83.7 million. LaBranche said revenue in the latest period included a pre-tax gain of $17.6 million for restricted shares of NYSE Group, Inc. Excluding the gain, net operating loss for the third quarter of was $2.1 million, or 3 cents a share. LaBranche was expected to earn 11 cents a share, according to the average forecast in a survey of analysts by Thomson First Call.

Omrix Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:OMRI - News) shares dropped 14% after the company announced positive results from its Phase III clinical trial of human thrombin in achieving hemostasis in general surgery procedures. All primary endpoints were met, the company said. Omrix expects to file its file its biologics license application by Nov. 15.

SumTotal Systems (NASDAQ:SUMT - News) shares lost 14% after the Mountain View, Calif.-based software company said it expects a third-quarter net loss of $2.6 million to $2.8 million, or 10 cents to 11 cents a share, on revenue of $26.8 million to $27 million. Excluding items, the company expects a per-share profit of $900,000 to $1.1 million, or 3 cents to 4 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call had forecast a per-share profit of 9 cents on revenue of $26.9 million.


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