Here’s what’s hot in the market today: Central Vermont Public and Ashland went way up, with the former getting acquired and the latter making a key acquisition. The mobile market saw some shock and awe with Nokia hitting a 13-year low while disappointing box office numbers hurt Dreamworks Animation. Finally, one IT company saw a boost as it changes focus.
Nokia (NYSE: NOK) dropped more than 16% by midday on trading of more than 96 million shares, more than four times its normal volume. The world’s biggest mobile phone manufacturer plummeted after it warned investors of lower second quarter. Nokia said sales will be “substantially” below the previously expected $9.5 billion. Shares were trading around $7 at midday, a 13-year low.
Central Vermont Public (NYSE: CV), the state’s primary utilities company, was up more than 40% in mid-morning trading, reaching a 52-week high near $35. The average trading volume of 43,000-some shares ballooned up above 720,000. Central Vermont agreed to be purchased by the Canadian utility holding company Fortis for $930 million, or $700 million and assumption of $230 million of debt.
Dreamworks Animation (NASDAQ: DWA) trading about three times its normal volume on Tuesday morning while the share price dropped almost 3%. The animated film studio’s new movie, Kung Fu Panda 2, was a runner up at the holiday weekend box office competition to Disney‘s (NYSE: DIS) Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Time Warner‘s (NYSE: TWX) The Hangover Part II. Dreamworks’ shares were trading above $24 at midday.
Ashland (NYSE: ASH), the chemical manufacturer and oil distributor, was up about 11% on 2.5 million shares this morning. ASH hit a 52-week high of more than $69 after the company announced that it was acquiring International Specialty Products for $3.2 billion.
Agilysys (NASDAQ: AGYS), the IT service company whose partners include Hewlett-Packard (NASDAQ: HPQ) and IBM (NYSE: IBM), was up almost 48%, moving above $7 by midday. More than 1 million shares traded, or 13-times its normal volume. AGYS announced it was selling its Technology Solutions Group, saying it would devote its resources to its retail and hospitality service segments.
As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at @ajohnagnello and become a fan of InvestorPlace on Facebook.
