Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. and Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. - Zacks #1 Rank Top Performers

The major indexes were in the red on Thursday ahead of President Obama's jobs plan. Several Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks managed to buck the trend, however, showing strong gains for the day.

One such stock was Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (CALP), which soared 41.1%. Caliper agreed to be acquired by PerkinElmer (PKI) for $10.50 per share in cash. This is a 42% premium to Wednesday's closing price.

Caliper Life Sciences provides drug discovery and life sciences research solutions primarily to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and diagnostics companies in the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Business at Caliper has been strong over the last several quarters as it has delivered 9 consecutive positive earnings surprises. Based on consensus estimates before the buyout, analysts were projecting 125% EPS growth for CALP this year and 211% growth next year.

The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Spreadtrum Communications, Inc. (SPRD) was another Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stock landing in the green on Thursday. Shares rose 8.2% to close at $19.99.

Spreadtrum is a fabless semiconductor company that manufactures baseband processor solutions for the wireless communications market. It is headquartered in Shanghai, China.

Earnings estimates have been surging since the company reported a 9% EPS beat for the second quarter on August 4. The 2011 Zacks Consensus Estimate has jumped from $2.08 to $2.42 since then, which corresponds with 78% growth over 2010 EPS. The 2012 consensus estimate has risen from $2.37 to $2.53 over the same period, representing 5% growth over 2011 EPS.

Shares trade at just 8.3x the 2011 consensus estimate, well below the industry average of 13.2x.

Other notable top performing Zacks #1 Rank stocks from Thursday include: ORBCOMM Inc. (ORBC), which was up 9.7%, athenahealth, Inc. (ATHN), which rose 6.6%, and Navigant Consulting, Inc. (NCI), which gained 6.0%.

To see the full list of Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks click here.

Todd Bunton is the Growth & Income Stock Strategist for Zacks Investment Research.

 
CALIPER LIFE SC (CALP): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
SPREADTRUM-ADR (SPRD): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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