Spanish banking sector non-performing loans hit the highest level over the past 50 years, deepening the concerns over the European debt problems. The Bank of Japan also joined the group of the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank and announced the implementation of further quantitative easing. The three major indexes finished slightly lower this week: The Dow Industrial Average cumulatively declined 0.84%; The Nasdaq Composite index slipped 0.08%; the Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid 0.55%. However, there are still some strong gainers which surpassed the performance of the indexes.
Lone Pine Resources Inc (LPR) was the leader of the best performing stocks on the NYSE this week as its big weekly gain of 27.4%. Lone Pine Resources Inc. is an independent oil and gas exploration, development, and production company focusing on the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. After the company announced review of asset portfolio and processes for non-core asset dispositions, LPR stock price begun to climbed up to $1.75 as of the market close on Tursday, then retreated 1.71% to finish at $1.72 on Friday. Scotia Capital lowered price target on LPR stock from $4.00 to $3.00 on Tuesday with a “sector perform” rating.
The current LPR stock price is 57.80% higher than the 52-week low of $1.09 and 79.05% off the 52-week high of $8.21. Lone Pine Resources has a market cap of $146.37 million.
The second of the best stocks this week was Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. (STP), the world’s largest producer of solar panels, which principally engaged in the design, development, manufacturing and marketing of photovoltaic (PV) products and solar power systems. The stock harvested a 24.1% gain this week. The company announced to cut its production on Monday in order to reduce costs. Then the company announced on Tursday that its Arizona manufacturing plant had been selected by Arizona Business Magazine and BestCompaniesAZ as one of 40 winners for the 2012 Arizona’s Most Admired Companies Awards (MAC). The recently announced $156 billion stimulus package by the Chinese government will also benefit SunTech Power Holdings. But a negative news came out on Friday, that the share price of SunTech Power Holdings was less than $1.00 per ADS over a consecutive 30-trading-day period, making the company miss the continued listing standard, therefore, the company is making every effort to boost its share price. STP shares surged 5.88% on Friday.
The current STP stock price is 52.11% higher than the 52-week low of $0.71 and 24.55% off the 52-week high of $4.40. Suntech Power Holdings has a market cap of $195.31 million.
Hemispherx BioPharma, Inc (HEB), a specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the clinical development of new drugs therapies for viral and immune based chronic disorders, saw a big week,as the stock increased 22.6% this week and hit a 52-week new high of 1.01. The company held its 2012 Annual Meeting of Stockholders on September 18, 2012.The Company reduced the quorum for this meeting to 33.3%, still surpassing the minimum quorum requirement 49.36% of its outstanding shares voted.
The HEB stock price is nearly six times its 52-week low of $0.17 and very close to the 52-week high. Hemispherx BioPharma has a market cap of $136.22 million.
Another two plays among the best stocks this week was Southern Connecticut Bancorp Inc. (SSE) and Wizzard Software Corporation (WZE), which rose 24.1% and 21.9% this week, respectively. There was lack of catalyst supporting the rise of th two stocks. The SSE stock price of $1.39 is 51.09% above the 52-week high of $0.92 while 45.28% away the 52-week high of $2.54. Southern Connecticut Bancorp has a micro market cap of $3.85 million. The WZE stock price of $5.24 is nearly four times the 52-week high of $1.34 while 4.55% below the 52-week high of $2.54. Southern Connecticut Bancorp has a micro market cap of $45.75 million.