Volume Spike Investor

Meritage Homes Corporation (NYSE: MTH) was a very unusual stealthy volume spike today.  We saw options and stock trading abnormally.  In the options, there were the AUG $17.50 PUTS which saw some 20,308 options contracts trade.  Interestingly enough, the prior open interested was listed only as 440 contracts.  That represents some 2 million shares on [...]

American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings (NYSE: AXL) shares are down more than 25 percent to $1.76, with the stock having traded nearly twice its average daily volume. The company late Tuesday said it reached an agreement with lenders to amend its credit facility amid a severe decline in vehicle production volumes. The agreement includes a waver of [...]

YRC Worldwide (Nasdaq: YRCW) shares are down about 20 percent, and have fallen intraday below the $1 mark on nearly four times average volume as of 2 p.m. Eastern. The trucker continues attempts to try to re-work its balance sheet and avoid a possible bankruptcy. Reuters.com reports to day that the company has asked an [...]

Activision Blizzard Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI) shares are down about 2 percent to $11.50, with the stock nearly trading its average daily volume by 1:45 p.m. Eastern. The stock may be reacting to comments by Sony Corp. (NYSE: SNE) CEO Howard Stringer that he has no intention of cutting the price of the PlayStation 3 gaming [...]

Tractor Supply Co. (Nasdaq: TSCO) shares are up 9 percent to $44 on roughly twice their average daily volume as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern, after the company guided second-quarter and fiscal-year profits higher. The company now sees Q2 earnings in a range of $1.48 to $1.50 a share, vs. analyst expectations of $1.25 a share. [...]

Dyncorp International Inc. (NYSE: DCP) shares are up more than 12 percent above $18 on more than twice their average daily volume as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern Wednesday after it and partner Fluor Corp. (NYSE: FLR) won a U.S. Army contract supporting troop build-ups in Afghanistan, as reported by Bloomberg.com. Each company won a one-year contract worth as [...]

Vical Inc. (Nasdaq: VICL) shares are nearly unchanged at $2.67, but have traded 38,000 shares in early premarket trading. The company Wednesday announced a positive four-month interim analysis for what is arguably its second-largest market opportunity, taking potentially another small step toward the goal of attracting a partner for its herpes vaccine program. — Mike [...]

ARYx Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: ARYX) shares are down about 51 percent to $2.05 in premarket trading of about 60,000 shares after the company’s experimental anticoagulant Tecarfarin failed to meet its endpoint in a late-stage study. The study hoped to show Tecarfarin worked better than the competing drug Warfarin, but Warfarin did better than anticipated among the [...]

DryShips Inc.  (Nasdaq: DRYS) shares are up more than 5 percent to $5.19, on nearly 300,000 shares traded in the premarket after Credit Suisse boosted its rating on the stock from Outperform from Underperform and raises its target price to $8 from $5. The research firm believes the value of its rig assets are being ignored [...]

MSC Software Corp. (Nasdaq: MSCS) shares are up 11 percent to $7.50, on more than 1 million shares changing hands after Symphony Technology placed a bid on the company for $360 million, or $7.63 a share, a 13 percent premium. The deal is expected to help MSC continue with its software design and testing work.  [...]