Hot Stocks and Pending Home Sales Rise: PSDV, PEIX, OREX, CTB, MU, HDY

Pending home sales rose in January to a near two year high. The National Association of Realtors said pending home sales rose by 8%, well above analysts estimates of just 1%. Stocks have rebounded some thanks to this news after being well into the red this morning. The major indices are still negative this morning with the Dow down 43 points, the Nasdaq down 7 points and the S&P 500 down 3 points.

pSividia Corp. (NASDAQ:PSDV) is up 30.41% this morning at $2.2692. PSDV shares have moved from $1.20 to $2.26 in the past two trading sessions. pSividia had been relatively quiet since mid November after falling from $4.50 to around $1.08 in a matter of days. PSDV has traded 380 thousand shares already today, well above its daily average of just 65 thousand shares. The company has a market cap of 47.84 million.

Pacific Ethanol, Inc. (NASDAQ:PEIX) is up 14.38% in early trading at $1.59. PEIX has traded 14.2 million shares so far today, more than double its daily average. PEIX shares are running ahead of the company’s earnings report which is expected after market close today. The company has a market cap of 138.30 million.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) is up 9.40% today at $4.13. OREX is up on heavy volume this morning with 3.1 million shares traded, 3 times its daily average volume. OREX shares have been rallying the past several days after Vivus’ shares rose due to an FDA panel backing its diet drug. Orexigen is also developing a weight loss drug it hopes will be approved. The company has a market cap of 200.51 million.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company (NYSE:CTB) is up 11.05% this morning at $17.39. CTB has traded 1.3 million shares in early trading, more than double its average volume. CTB shares are jumping today after the company released fourth quarter results. Excluding items, Cooper Tire earned $0.51 per share. Analysts were expecting $0.39 per share. The company has a market cap of 1.07 billion.

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MU) is up 8.63% today at $8.64. MU has traded 25.7 million shares so far today and trades 28 million shares a day on average. Micron is rallying today after Elpida, a main competitor, filed for bankruptcy. The company has a market cap of 8.57 billion.

HyperDynamics Corporation (NYSE:HDY) is up 8.26% today at $1.32. HDY has traded 1.5 million shares so far today and trades 4.1 million shares a day on average. HDY shares are trying to recover some today after the stock has fallen 50% since late January. The company has a market cap of 209.35 million.