US SMALL/MIDCAPS-Earnings lift F5, J Crew; Affymetrix slips
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - Stocks posting solid earnings and positive outlooks such as J Crew and F5 Networks were rewarded by investors on Thursday, while those that fell short of expectations, including Affymetrix, took heavy losses.
J Crew Group Inc (JCG.N) gained 15.9 percent to $43.72 after the clothing retailer increased its outlook for the third and fourth quarters, citing stronger-than-expected sales and margin trends expected to last throughout the year. For details, see [IDnN22137286]
"Retailers have gone through quite a while with managing in a difficult environment, really working on their supply chain and dramatically reducing inventory," said Scott Billeaudeau, portfolio manager at Fifth Third Asset Management in Minneapolis.
"Now what you are seeing is really good conversion of incremental sales to the bottom line, much better than you've seen in the past.
Other retailers were rising as well. Guess Inc. (GES.N) gained 5.5 percent and Urban Outfitters Inc (URBN.O) was up 4.8 percent. The S&P 400 Midcap Consumer Discretionary sector gained 2.2 percent.
MidCap F5 Networks Inc (FFIV.O) surged 14.3 percent to $47.47 after the network equipment maker said profits were boosted by bookings and improved demand, forecasting first-quarter earnings above analysts' views. [ID:nBNG430190]
Affymetrix Inc (AFFX.O) slumped 18.1 percent to $7.25 a day after it posted a wider-than-expected quarterly loss hurt by weak gross margins, and forecast fourth-quarter revenue below market estimates. [ID:nBNG417926]
The S&P MidCap 400 index .MID rose 1.1 percent and the S&P SmallCap 600 index .SML gained 0.9 percent. The large cap S&P 500 index .SPX advanced 0.8 percent.
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; additional reporting by Leah Schnurr; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
