Eagle & Beagle

By Don Mecoy Comments 0
Published: November 8, 2009

Eagle

The top-performing Oklahoma stock last week reported a 55 percent decrease in profits, and its best production month in company history.

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In response, one analyst downgraded the stock from "buy” to "neutral.” Another upgraded the issue from "neutral” to "buy.”

Investors apparently put more weight in the latter. Tulsa-based Arena Resources rose 12.7 percent last week to close at $41.98. The stock is trading near its 52-week high.

An interesting but perhaps irrelevant fact is that each of the last five days, a fairly large chunk of ARD shares have traded near the final bell.

Beagle

Our beagle has a familiar ailment for its breed.

Southwest Bancorp, parent of Stillwater National Bank, reported last week that profits were down and problem loans were up. Welcome to the world of banking, circa 2009. At least Oklahoma banks are generating profits.

Southwest CEO Rick Green’s didn’t try to whitewash the problem with his earnings statement: "We expect continuing weakness in our commercial real estate markets and are clearly focused on identification and resolution of problem credits.”

In response, traders pushed OKSB down 19.51 percent. It closed the week at $7.92.

Eagle & Beagle is a weekly look at the state’s high-performing (eagle) and low-performing (beagle) stocks by Business Writer Don Mecoy