Benzinga's Microcap Movers for Wednesday August 15, 2012

Below are highlights from Benzinga's daily coverage of small cap and microcap securities making big moves:

Shares of Physicians Formula Holdings

, the Azusa, CA manufacturer of products made especially for sensitive skin, rose 14.40% Wednesday on 190 times average volume. Physicians Formula Holdings and Swander Pace Capital announced Wednesday they have entered into a definitive merger agreement under which affiliates of Swander Pace will acquire Physicians Formula. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Swander Pace, through its affiliates, will acquire all outstanding shares of the common stock of Physicians Formula for $4.25 per share in cash, or approximately $65 million. The per share price represents a premium of approximately 15% over Physicians Formula's closing stock price on August 14, 2012 and a 21% premium to the Company's one-month volume-weighted average price of $3.50 per share. The Physicians Formula's Board of Directors, acting upon the unanimous recommendation of its Special Committee (the "Special Committee") composed solely of independent directors, unanimously approved the merger agreement and resolved to recommend that the Company's stockholders vote to adopt the merger agreement. Physicians Formula Holdings closed at $4.21 on Wednesday.

Shares of Impac Mortgage Holdings

, the Irvine, CA mortgage and real estate services company, rose 87.05% Wednesday on 241 times average volume. Impac Mortgage Holdings announced Q2 results on Tuesday. In the second quarter of 2012, Excel increased its residential mortgage originations volumes 46% to $531.9 million as compared to $365.0million in the first quarter of 2012 and by 135% as compared to $226.3 million for the second quarter of 2011. Sales of mortgage loans increased 33% to $474.5 million in the second quarter of 2012 as compared to $355.7 million in the first quarter of 2012 and increased by 128% over the sales of $208.4 million in the second quarter of 2011. During the three months ended June 30, 2012, the Company's consolidated net earnings were $4.2 million, or $0.51 per diluted common share, as compared to consolidated net earnings of $361 thousand or $0.04 per diluted common share for the three months ended June 30, 2011 primarily due to the increase in profitability of the mortgage lending business which improved by $7.3 million with net earnings of $3.8 million in the second quarter of 2012 as compared to a net loss of $3.5 million in the second quarter of 2011. The Company's consolidated results for the six months ended June 30, 2012 improved slightly to a consolidated net loss of $(578) thousand, or $(0.07) per diluted common share, as compared to a consolidated net loss of $(626) thousand or $(0.08) per diluted common share for the six months ended June 30, 2011. Impac Mortgage Holdings closed at $4.19 on Wednesday.

Shares of Wave Systems

, the Lee, MA provider of client and server software for hardware-based digital security, rose 29.29% Wednesday on 3 times average volume. Wave Systems launched Wednesday Wave Cloud, a cloud-based service for enterprise-wide management of self-encrypting drives. The company's new subscription-based service introduces a game-changing platform for enterprises that wish to rapidly deploy centrally-managed hardware-based data encryption on laptops -- all without the complexity and cost associated with maintaining on-premise servers. Wave Systems closed at $0.75 on Wednesday.