Netlist, AEterna Zentaris: Midday Volume Plays

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Netlist was one of several stocks trading near $5 were moving on above-average volume Wednesday following the company's first-quarter earnings report.

Netlist shares jumped by 55 cents, or 20.8%, to $3.20 after the memory subsystems maker said its first-quarter loss narrowed to 14 cents a share from a year-ago loss of 19 cents a share. A single analyst covering Netlist had forecasted a loss of 18 cents a share.

Netlist said revenue in the quarter surged 265% from a year ago to $7.9 million, well ahead of the lone analyst target of $5.10 million. Netlist's volume topped 2.53 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 867,000, according to the Nasdaq.

Elsewhere, AEterna Zentaris jumped by 37 cents, or 16.2%, to $2.65 after the Food and Drug Administration approved the Investigational New Drug (IND) application for its doxorubicin targeted conjugate compound, AEZS-108, in bladder cancer.

AEterna Zentaris said it expects to initiate a Phase 2 clinical trial in the second half of this year. Volume topped 11.65 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 3.54 million.

Exelixis gained 59 cents, or 11.1%, to $5.92 even after the drug maker reported a first-quarter loss of 40 cents a share on revenue of $42.2 million, compared with the Thomson Reuters average estimate for a loss of 31 cents a share on revenue of $54.8 million. Volume topped 1.31 million shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 1.33 million.

The Hackett Group rose by 47 cents, or 16.7%, to $3.28 after the global advisory firm reported a first-quarter profit of 5 cents a share on revenue of $46.7 million, compared with the analyst consensus for a profit of 4 cents a share on revenue of $43.7 million.

Looking ahead, The Hackett Group offered better-than-expected revenue guidance for the second quarter. Volume topped 257,000 shares, compared to the 50-day average daily volume of 96,000.

-- Written by Robert Holmes in Boston.

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