Hot Stocks to Watch: GENE, YELP, ANGI, MAKO, OREX, WLP

The major stock averages are turning negative in late morning trading after beginning the day in positive territory. The market continues to trade mostly flat as investors await Bernanke’s speech at Jackson Hole, WY later this week. The Commerce Department said today the U.S. economy expanded at a slightly better 1.7% annual rate in the second quarter. The housing industry also saw some good news today as pending home sales jumped to their highest level in the past two years.

A quick look at the markets show the Dow up just barely with a 0.55 point gain, the Nasdaq is down about 2 points and the S&P 500 is down 0.30 points.

Hot Stocks

Genetic Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ:GENE) is up 33.92% today at $4.1783. GENE is seeing heavy volume this morning with 1.6 million shares traded, well above its daily average of 245 thousand shares. Genetic Technologies filed a patent infringement suit against Reproductive Genetics on Monday. The company has a market cap of 53.88 million.

Yelp, Inc. (NYSE:YELP) is up 18.73% in late morning trading at $21.72. YELP has traded 4.4 million shares already today, more than 6 times its daily average. YELP shares are rallying today despite today being lockup expiration day, meaning insiders can unload shares if they choose to. The company has a market cap of 1.33 billion.

Angie’s List, Inc. (NASDAQ:ANGI) is up 10% today at $9.92. ANGI has traded 662 thousand shares so far today, well above its daily average of 476 thousand shares. ANGI shares were upgraded by Oppenheimer this morning to outperform from perform. The company has a market cap of 575.34 million.

MAKO Surgical Corp. (NASDAQ:MAKO) is up 9.27% today at $16.99. MAKO has traded 2.5 million shares so far today, well above its daily average of 1.9 million shares. MAKO shares are heading higher today after Corin, an orthopedic device maker, said it made significant deliveries to MAKO in the first half of 2012. The company has a market cap of 723 million.

Orexigen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:OREX) is up 8.61% today at $4.7899. OREX has traded 1.1 million shares so far today and trades 3.9 million shares a day on average. OREX shares are up nearly $1 a share over the past five days. The company has a market cap of 337.70 million.

WellPoint Inc. (NYSE:WLP) is up 7.81% today at $61.88. WLP has traded 7.2 million shares so far today, well above its daily average of 3.8 million shares. WellPoint’s CEO resigned today after some investors pressured for a new CEO after the company cut its full year forecast last month. The company has a market cap of 20.10 billion.