Morning Movers 9/30: HOKU, ICCC, VSR, CFW, DSCO Higher; CIT, HX, RGN, ICON, APAB, RMTI Lower

September 30, 2009 10:33 AM EDT

Hoku Scientific, Inc. (NASDAQ: HOKU) 93% HIGHER; today announced the signing of a definitive agreement providing for a majority investment in Hoku by Tianwei and debt financing by Tianwei and China Construction Bank for the construction and development of Hoku's polysilicon production facility in Pocatello, Idaho. The transaction will involve the conversion of $50 million of an aggregate of $79 million in secured prepayments previously paid by Tianwei to Hoku under certain polysilicon supply agreements into shares of Hoku's common stock and related warrants, plus the provision of $50 million in initial debt financing for Hoku, together with a commitment from Tianwei to assist Hoku in obtaining additional financing that may be required by Hoku to construct and operate the Pocatello facility.

ImmuCell Corp. (Nasdaq: ICCC) 47.5% HIGHER; said in a study of approximately 300 qualified cows with subclinical mastitis that was conducted at sixteen sites across the United States, the Mast Out treatment group showed a statistically highly significant (p < 0.0001) overall cure rate in comparison to the placebo group. The preliminary breakdown of the data by species suggests both the necessary numerical superiority and clinical relevancy to support robust product performance in the field. The primary objective of this study was to demonstrate effectiveness in the field, at a level similar to currently marketed intramammary antibiotics.

Versar, Inc. (NYSE: VSR) 41% HIGHER; announced it is one of sixteen small businesses awarded a five year, $3 billion ID/IQ contract by the Department of the Air Force's Center for Engineering and the Environment. The five year contract will have an eight year performance period and be worldwide in geographic scope.

CIT Group Inc (NYSE: CIT) 37.8% LOWER; according to reports from Reuters, CIT is near a plan to turn itself over to its bondholders, citing sources familiar with the matter. CIT is preparing an exchange offer that would eliminate up to 40% of its more than $30 billion in outstanding debt. The plan would offer bondholders new debt secured by CIT assets, as well as nearly all of the equity in a restructured company, one source said.

Cano Petroleum, Inc. (NYSE: CFW) 34.1% HIGHER; Resaca Exploitation and Cano announced the boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive plan to merge the two companies in a tax-free, stock-for-stock exchange. Cano shareholders will receive 2.1 shares of Resaca common stock for every share of Cano common stock and will own approximately 50 percent of the combined company. Based on the closing price of Resaca common stock on September 28, 2009, the transaction implies total consideration to Cano shareholders of $76.0 million or $1.67 per Cano share and $3.34 per proved barrel of oil equivalent. The newly combined company will have an estimated 63.2 million barrels oil equivalent of proved reserves (81% oil) with a PV10 value of approximately $652.9 million based on crude oil and natural gas prices in effect on July 1, 2009.

Halifax Corporation of Virginia (Amex: HX) 31.8% LOWER; last night announced that it has given formal notice to NYSE AMEX of the Company's intention to delist from AMEX and deregister its common stock under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Following delisting, the Company expects that its common stock will be quoted on the Pink Sheets and intends to continue to make financial information publicly available on its website.

Discovery Laboratories, Inc. (Nasdaq: DSCO) 31.5% HIGHER; held a teleconference on September 29, 2009 with the U.S. FDA. The meeting established an approach to potentially resolve the remaining primary issue that Discovery Labs must address to gain U.S. marketing approval of Surfaxin(R) (lucinactant) for the prevention of Respiratory Distress Syndrome in premature infants. The meeting focused on Discovery Labs' plans regarding optimization and final method validation of its fetal rabbit Biological Activity Test (BAT, a quality control and stability release test) and a proposed limited Surfaxin clinical trial design, which would simultaneously employ the newly-optimized BAT.

Regenerx Biopharma (AMEX: RGN) 24.1% LOWER; entered into a securities purchase agreement with new institutional investors for the sale of 4,512,195 shares of its common stock in a registered direct offering at $0.82 per share. In addition, warrants to purchase 2,256,098 shares of common stock will be issued to the investors. The warrants are immediately exercisable, have a term of 5 years and an exercise price of $1.12 per share. Gross proceeds of the offering, before deducting placement agent fees and other estimated offering expenses payable by RegeneRx, are expected to be approximately $3.7 million. These securities are being offered through a prospectus supplement pursuant to the Company's effective shelf registration statement.

Iconix Brand Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICON) 20.1% LOWER; revising its full year 2009 revenue guidance to a range of approximately $215-$220 million from prior guidance of a range of $223-$230 million. The comapny revised its 2009 non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance to a range of $1.17-$1.22 from its previous range of $1.30-$1.35 and its 2009 GAAP diluted EPS guidance to a range of $1.06-$1.11 from its previous range of $1.16-$1.21.

Appalachian Bancshares, Inc. (Nasdaq: APAB) 18.2% LOWER; last night announced that on September 23, 2009, the Company received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Staff of The Nasdaq Stock Market notifying the Company that it failed to comply with Nasdaq's minimum market value of publicly held shares and minimum bid price requirements for continued listing set forth in Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 5810(b)(1)(C) and Nasdaq Marketplace Rule 5450(a)(1), which require companies to maintain a MVPHS of $5,000,000 and a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share, respectively.

TerreStar Corporation (Nasdaq: TSTR) 17.4% HIGHER; the company announced an agreement with AT&T (NYSE: T) to bring to market the TerreStar GENUS Smartphone. Click here for the full report.

Caraco Pharmaceutical Laboratories, Ltd. (Amex: CPD) 16.6% HIGHER; entered into a consent decree with the FDA regarding the company's drug manufacturing operations. The decree provides a series of measures that, when satisfied, will permit Caraco to resume manufacturing and distributing those products that are manufactured in its Detroit area facilities. The Company is working expeditiously to satisfy the requirements of the decree and has already retained independent cGMP experts for review of the Company's operations and to facilitate a successful result.

OMNOVA Solutions Inc. (NYSE: OMN) 16.1% HIGHER; reports Q3 EPS of $0.23, cents better than the analyst estimate of $0.11. Revenue for the quarter was $186.1 million, which compares to the estimate of $186 million.

Rockwell Medical Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMTI) 13.5% LOWER; announced that it has obtained commitments from institutional investors to purchase an aggregate of 2,840,000 shares of Rockwell's common stock and warrants to purchase up to 1,079,200 shares of common stock in a registered direct offering for gross proceeds of approximately $22.0 million, before deducting placement agents' fees and estimated offering expenses.

Reed's, Inc. (NASDAQ: REED) 13.1% HIGHER; announced today that it is in active discussions with 25 national chain store retailers regarding producing private label products for them. Reed's had previously announced its intention to private label products that are non-competitive to its existing lines of business.

Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE: CLP) 11.4% LOWER; commenced a public offering of 9,000,000 of its common shares. The company also sees FY09 FFO $1.98 to $2.10 versus previous guidance $2.12 to $2.25 versus consensus of $2.05.

ReneSola Ltd (NYSE: SOL) 11.1% LOWER; announced that its follow-on public offering of 15,500,000 American depositary shares, or ADSs, each representing two shares of no par value in the Company, was priced at $4.75 per ADS. The offering is expected to close on October 5, 2009. ReneSola has granted the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,325,000 ADSs.

Ameriprise Financial, Inc. (NYSE: AMP) 9.9% HIGHER; announced a definitive agreement to acquire the long-term asset management business of Columbia Management from Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) for approximately $1 billion in cash. The transaction is expected to be accretive to Ameriprise Financial earnings and return on equity within one year, excluding one-time integration costs.

Jabil (NYSE: JBL) 9.1% HIGHER; reports Q4 EPS of $0.16, 8 cents better than the analyst estimate of $0.08. Revenue for the quarter was $2.8 billion, which compares to the estimate of $2.66 billion. Sees Q1 core 21c to 32c versus 18c consensus. Sees Q1 revs $3B to 3.2B versus consensus $2.88B.

Hyperdynamics Corporation (Amex: HDY) 7.2% HIGHER; announced that Kent Watts has resigned from the Company's Board of Directors, effective immediately. Watts formerly served as the Company's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until July 1, 2009, and had served as a non-executive board member since that time. Watts is expected to remain a major stockholder in Hyperdynamics. Watts is one of several Hyperdynamics shareholders who own an aggregate 2,406 shares of the Company's Series B Preferred Stock and 4,980,000 warrants. These holders have agreed to convert their preferred stock to approximately 17.8 million Hyperdynamics common shares.

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