Stocks On The Move - March 5

Stocks Rise on Heavy Volumn:

• Aeroflex Inc. (ARXX): shares of Plainview, NY based motion control systems for aerospace and defense applications surged 18.62% to $13.06 per share after the company was bought by private equipty funds for $1 billion or $13.5 per share. The stock was the second biggest winner on Nasdaq today with 11.14 million shares traded.
• Pathmark Stores Inc. (PTMK): shares of New Jersey based supermarket chains operator rose 10.76% to $12.46 per share after rival A&P is buying the company for $679 million or about $13 per share. The stock was the eighth leading gainer on Nasdaq today with 7.28 million shares traded.

Stock Drop on Heavy Volumn

• New Century Financial Corp. (NEW): shares of Irvine, CA based real estate investment trust company plummetted almost 70% to new 52 weeks low of $4.56 per share after the company said that a criminal probe was underway into trading of its securities. The stock was the biggest loser and the heaviest traded on NYSE today with 59.7 million shares traded.
• Novastar Financial Inc. (NFI): shares of Kansas City mortgage continue the slide which began at the beginnig of this year with another 40% plunge to another record low of $4.28 per share on weakness in subprime lender as well as analyst downgrade from Hold to Sell. The stock was the fifth leading decliner on NYSE today with 14.75 million shares traded.