The market has been trading flat this morning. The Dow is currently up 5.60 points and the Nasdaq and S&P are not faring much better with gains of 13 points and 5 points. After the last few days of losses throughout the market, investors are reacting cautiously to good news as fears over the economic recovery still weigh heavily on them. The following stocks are surging despite the overall feel of the market.
SodaStream International Ltd. (Nasdaq:SODA) shares have risen $4.43 to $48.16 per share this morning. SodaStream rise has lead to nearly 2.5 million shares exchanging hands. The 10% increase comes as news of record profit in the 1Q for SodaStream. On the heels of a 153% increase in sales in the US 1Q net income was up $5.9 million or $.31 per share. Sales are expected to rise 30% up from a previous outlook of 25%
Nobel Learning Communities Inc. (Nasdaq:NLCI) shares have jumped up $2.85 to $11.49 per share. The 1 million shares that have been traded this morning far exceed the average daily traded volume of 4,800 shares. This jump in share price is due to the announcement that Leeds Equity Partners, a private equity firm, has agreed to purchase Nobel. In the buyout Leeds will pay $11.75 per share a premium of nearly 36%. Leeds will also pay Nobel’s outstanding options and warrants holders bring the value of the buyout to $149 million.
White Mountain Insurance group.(NYSE:WTM) Shares have climbed an astounding $45.65 per share this morning to $389.28 with an intraday and 52 week high of $393.17. The jump for White Mountain is in direct correlation to news that Allstate Corporation has agreed to purchase the Esurance and Answer Financial divisions from White Mountain for $1 billion. The acquisition would be Allstate’s larges since its 1999 purchase of American Heritage Life.
With buyouts and acquisitions in the news today General Mills Inc.(NYSE:GIS) decided to get in the apparent frenzy when it announced that the company would purchase a 51% stake in Yoplait from PAI, A French investment firm, and Sodiaal. General Mills which has licensed Yoplait for nearly 30 years and the two companies had been in arbitration over the future of that license. Depite the news GIS shares are down $.07 this morning.
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