24/7 Wall St. » STAA

Big Holder Chasing STAAR Surgical (STAA)

247wallst — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:47:31 +0000

STAAR Surgical Company (NASDAQ: STAA) has been on a roaring run of late. In mid-May this stock was under $1.00. After news of the company getting a nod for its Epiphany cataract lens insertion device, its stock has risen almost 100% and traded north of $2.00 before coming back to $1.94 today. And then came a capital raise. What is interesting is that a large holder added a large amount to the ownership in that offering.

The company’s direct registered offering was just completed this week and was over 4.255 million shares at $1.88 per share. Via an SEC filing, it turns out that Broadwood Partners LP (or tied to Neal Bradsher) purchased 1,159,362 of those shares. This now gives the fund a total ownership of 6,028,638 shares.

STAAR is using the capital raised to fund a deposit with the court to secure a stay of enforcement of the judgment pending its appeal in the Parallax Medical Systems, Inc. litigation. The current temporary stay in the case expires on June 22, 2009.

We have Broadwood as being the largest holder by far, and this will now give it close to 20% of the total company if the last data on the total share count is accurate.

Jon C. Ogg
June 18, 2009

Posted in Healthcare, Insider Activity, Medical, Secondary Offering Tagged: STAA

52-Week Lows (July 13, 2007) (ACA, AVAV, IDIX, KERX, NKTR, REDE, STAA, TRMP, UBET, WON)

247wallst — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 15:03:09 +0000

Stock Tickers: ACA, AVAV, IDIX, KERX, NKTR, REDE, STAA, TRMP, UBET, WON

The DJIA & S&P 500 Index may have put in new highs today, but as you know there are always a dingy group of little piggies putting in new 52-week lows. Some companies are poorly run, and some are just victim of circumstance. Maybe they can just all blame Friday the 13th. Not all of these are definitely CLOSING on 52-week lows but some deserved the honorable mention. Here are today’s little piggies:

(ACA) ACA CAPITAL HOLDINGS… Giving it up again, down 50% from Highs. ACA provides financial guaranty insurance products to participants in the global credit derivative, structured finance capital, and municipal finance capital markets. You think subprime or CDO blow-ups snuck into their pocketbook?

(AVAV) AEROVIRONMENT INC… Shares traded down another 2.4% and traded down into the ‘teens’ for the first time since its IPO in January. No one realized that its flying re-con plane was needed to find stock buyers rather than enemy soldiers over the horizon.

(IDIX) IDENIX PHARMACEUTICALS… Whoops, FDA halts Hep-C trials. Ouch!

(KERX) KERYX BIOPHARMA… no real news, just days and days of weakness.

(NKTR) NEKTAR THERAPEUTICS… no real news, just days of weakness.

(REDE) RED ENVELOPE… no real news, although for an ‘online of high-end gifts’ it is pretty shocking that I have yet to meet anyone who has bought from them online.

(STAA) STAAR SURGICAL… very thin volume, no news; not being run by stars?

(TRMP) TRUMP ENTERTAINMENT… The truth is that this DIDN’T CLOSE on a low, but it hit a new since coming public after the recapitalization in 2005 and deserves to be noted. Hopefully The Donald won’t sue us for saying something negative like he has been known to do, but this stock has been a stinker.

(UBET) YOUBET.COM… You can bet it is hard to find bulls or bears in this name.

(WON) WESTWOOD ONE INC… This was down close to 15% at one point but managed to come all the way back on 4-times average volume to a 10-year ("TEN") after traders bought it back up after Citigroup downgraded it.

Jon C. Ogg
July 13, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Massive List of 52-Week Lows (June 20, 2007)

247wallst — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 15:38:06 +0000

Stock Tickers: AVR, BCRX, CACH, CHCI, COLY, CTIC, FSII, HOV, HR, INFS, LEG, MTH, PEIX, RSYS, SCSS, SEPR, SNY, STAA, USBE, UTSI, VSE, YSI

Once again, many many more losers…..This list is larger than most of recent note. There is just about any given day where there are fresh 52-week lows:

Aventine Renewable (AVR)…-3.9% to $14.09; $14.60 prior low. Watch the renewable energy names as they are plentiful on 52-week lows.

BioCryst Pharma (BCRX)…-3.3% at $6.92; prior 52-week low $7.13; follow-on weakness from Peramivir Monday.

Cache (CACH)…-2.7% to $13.92; not lowest intraday but low close.

Comstock Homebuilders (CHCI)…-4.4% to $2.83; another stinking homebuilder.

Coley Pharma (COLY)….-59% to $3.46; $8.00 prior lows; intra-day implosion as Pfizer ditches its cancer drug.

Cell Therapeutics (CTIC)…-9.4% to $3.09; prior 52-week low was $3.38.

FSI International (FSII)….-13% to $3.43; $3.91 was prior low; weak guidance; hedge fund pressures CEo.

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV)…-3% to $19.08; prior 52-week low $19.53; another stinking homebuilder.

Healthcare Realty (HR) -2.2% to $28.34; prior 52-week low was $28.57; this one goes lower and lower each week it feels like.

InFocus (INFS) -4% to $2.33; follow-on weakness after CFO quit; stock imploding….

Leggett & Platt (LEG)…-0.7% to $21.92; not tru 52-week low but low close; continued weakness after estimates cut from housing.

Meritage Homes (MTH)..-1.5% to $28.75; another stinking homebuilder.

Pacific Ethanol (PEIX)…-2.35 to $12.35; lowest close of late; and we thought ethanol was king…..

Radisys (RSYS)…-3.8% to $12.80; not true low but low close and hit intraday lows; no news today.

Select Comfort (SCSS)…-2.1% to $16.03; prior low $16.09; weak housing must mean weak bed sales; maybe hamocs are the new rage?

Sepracor (SEPR)…-2.5% to $43.67; prior 52-week low $43.84; insiders exercising stock options this week; P/E ratio drifting lower and lower; now down 33% from highs.

Sanofi-Aventis (SNY)…-1.8% to $40.84; prior low $41.09; drug woes continue; worries they’ll dilute to buy Bristol-Myers.

Staar Surgical (STAA)…-2.85% to $4.09; $4.14 prior 52-week lows; no news, but not a ‘staar’ after all.

US Bioenergy (USBE)…-2.6% to $10.67; $10.78 prior low; busted IPO looks like worse getting even worse.

UTSarcom (UTSI)…-3.8% to $5.28; $5.43 was prior 52-week low; down more than 50% in last year; the beatings will continue until leadership improves AND until they actually report and open the books.

VeraSun (VSE)…-4.7% to $13.08; $13.69 was prior 52-week low; ethanol slide continues.

u_Store-It Trust (YSI)…-2.9% to $16.97; $17.05 was prior intra-day low; no news, but they obviously aren’t storing enough.

Jon C. Ogg
June 20, 2007

Jon Ogg can be reached at jonogg@247wallst.com; he does not own securities in any of the companies he covers.