Average Weekly Gain: 37.3%
Monday: Our Buzz Stock of the Day on June 28, IDT Corp. (NYSE: IDT) had a great week. IDT, which blends a strange pairing of telecom and energy had positive momentumthroughout the week. Shares began their climb on Monday, after a CNBC interview in which CEO Howard Jonas outlined the company’s shale properties and oil extraction technology. IDT’s energy business, Genie Energy, holds IDT’s interests in the American Shale Oil, LLC (AMSO), a joint oil shale research and development venture in Colorado with Total, S.A.; and in Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI), which holds an exclusive shale oil exploration and production license in the Shfela region of Israel. According to Jonas, it costs IDT Corp. $25 per-barrel to extract oil from shale rock. This figure is about $10 less than ultra-deep water fuel extraction — the kind of extraction that was being used by British Petroleum (NYSE: BP) in the Gulf of Mexico.
Up as much as 57 percent since our post.
Tuesday: On Tuesday, we featured Cowlitz Bancorp. (Pink Sheets: CWLZ) as our Buzz Stock of the Day. Cowlitz shares were up about 25 percent from Monday’s close, in morning trading on Tuesday after the company announced that it presented an updated plan to regain compliance with two Nasdaq Listing Rules with which it is not in compliance and requested a 90-day exception to the continued listing standards. Unfortunately, Cowlitz was de-listed from the Nasdaq on Thursday, July 1. Cowlitz received a delisting determination letter from Nasdaq due to the Company not being in compliance with the minimum 500,000 publicly held shares requirement set forth in Listing Rule 5550(a)(4), on May 12.
Wednesday: Shares of Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (Nasdaq: PEIX) surged almost 60 percent on Wednesday, after the company announced that four of its subsidiaries had emerged out of bankruptcy. The plant subsidiaries, which are now owned by a newly formed holding company, will continue to be staffed, managed and operated by Pacific Ethanol under a fee and profit-sharing arrangement negotiated with the owners of the newly formed holding company. Pacific Ethanol, Inc. eliminated approximately $290 million in debt and other liabilities from its balance sheet. The bankruptcy did not affect the Company’s ownership structure and the Company continues to be owned by its existing common and preferred stockholders.
Up as much as 31 percent since our post.
Thursday: Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARNA) was up 20 percent from Wednesday’s close, in morning trading on Thursday after the company announced that Japanese drug maker, Eisai, Inc. will market Arena’s obesity treatment lorcaserin in the U.S. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is already reviewing lorcaserin, and a decision is expected on Oct. 22. The main concern with lorcaserin is that patients treated with the drug in two pivotal phase III studies didn’t lose much weight — a little more than 3% on a placebo adjusted basis. The biggest plus in lorcaserin’s corner is the drug’s safety and tolerability, which appear better than competing drugs.
Up as much as 24 percent since our post.
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