March 27
RESTAURANT CHAINS
BJ’s Restaurants Inc. (Nasdaq: BJRI) jumped 9.1% to $36.22 and an $846 million market cap. The Huntington Beach-based restaurant chain today announced that it reached an agreement with PW Partners LLC to provide recommendations regarding cost structure and efficiencies to the company and its board of directors. PW Partners, which owns more than 5% of the common shares, agreed to withdraw its slate of nominees for the board.
Kura Sushi USA Inc. (Nasdaq: KRUS) climbed 6.5% to $119.43 and a $1.3 billion market cap. The Irvine-based restaurant chain is slated to announce its fiscal second-quarter results on April 4. Shares have more than doubled since a 52-week low of $51.02 in November.
March 26
TECHNOLOGY
WM Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MAPS) jumped 10% to $1.19 a share and a $197 million market cap. Shares in the Irvine-based parent company of Weedmaps, a software company that serves the cannabis industry, are up 35% since March 6.
Terran Orbital Corp. (NYSE: LLAP) climbed 11% to $1.19 a share and a $231 million market cap. The satellite maker, which has the bulk of its operations in Irvine, yesterday pushed its fourth quarter earnings call a day later to April 2.
–Kaitlin Aquino
March 25
HEALTHCARE
Irvine-based Masimo Corp. (Nasdaq: MASI) rose 3.5% to $139.73 apiece and a $7.4 billion market cap. Shares are up today after the company, a maker of non-invasive monitoring devices, announced the consideration of spinning off its consumer-facing business.
ENERGY
Clean Energy Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: CETY) jumped 20% to $1.15 per share with a market cap of $45 million. Shares of the Irvine-based provider of renewable energy have more than doubled since Feb. 13.
MARKETS
Crude oil rose 1.5% to $81.82 per barrel.
–Emily Santiago-Molina
March 22
HEALTHCARE
Biolase Inc. (Nasdaq: BIOL) climbed 21% to 18 cents a share and a $3.4 million market cap. The Lake Forest-based maker of dental lasers today reported fourth quarter results, projecting 2024 revenue growth to rise up to 8% to $53 million. Trading volume for the company’s shares is almost 50Â times the daily average.
TECHNOLOGY
WM Technology Inc. (Nasdaq: MAPS) rose 6.8% to $1.02 a share and a $167 million market cap. Shares in the Irvine-based parent company of Weedmaps, which serves the cannabis industry, are up 30% since the start of the year.
INDEXES
The yield on a 10-year treasury bond slipped 1.2% to 4.218%.
–Kaitlin Aquino
March 21
HEALTHCARE
AEON Biopharma Inc. (NYSE: AEON) fell 7.7% to $11.62 and a $437 million market cap. The Irvine drug maker yesterday announced that it will receive $15 million in convertible senior notes in a private placement from Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co.
TECHNOLOGY
Aliso Viejo-based indie Semiconductor Inc. (Nasdaq: INDI) rose 5.3% to $6.88 and a $1.1 billion market cap. Shares in the automotive tech company went up slightly yesterday after announcing plans to invest in AI processor company Expedera Inc.
–Yuika Yoshida
RESTAURANTS
Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. (NYSE: CMG) climbed 5.7% to $2,957.63 and an $81.2 billion market cap. The Newport Beach-based chain of fast food restaurants yesterday announced its plans in June for a 50-for-one stock split of its common shares, one of the biggest splits in the history of the New York Stock Exchange.
MORTGAGES
Irvine-based loanDepot Inc. (NYSE: LDI) increased 5.9% to $2.33 and a $760 million market cap. Shares of the mortgage originator are up 8.9% this week as investors bet on whether the Federal Reserve will lower its benchmark interest rates.
MARKETS
Crude oil fell 2% to $81.83 a barrel.
                                                –Peter J. Brennan
March 19
Orange-based Alignment Healthcare Inc. (Nasdaq: ALHC) jumped 15% to $5.39 apiece and a $1 billion market cap. Shares are rising today after the company, a Medicare Advantage plan provider, hit an all-time low of $4.48 since going public in 2022.
AEON Biopharma Inc. (NYSE: AEON) dropped 11% to $14.50 per share with a market cap of $537 million. Volume is two times the daily average. Shares of the Irvine-based drugmaker are still up four times as much since its 52-week low last August.
INDEXES
Crude oil rose 1.1% to $83.63 per barrel.
March 15
AGRICULTUREÂ
Newport Beach-based American Vanguard Corp. (NYSE: AVD), an agricultural products maker, rose 19% to $12.60 per share for a market cap of $362 million. The company yesterday reported earnings of 25 cents per share in the fourth quarter up from earnings of 13 cents a year ago, and n line with the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Revenues were $172.2 million for the quarter, up around 8% year over year, but they missed slightly the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $172.7 million.
RETAIL
Specialty apparel retailer Tilly’s Inc. (NYSE: TLYS) fell 5.3% to $6.82 per share for a market cap of $204 million. The Irvine-based company said yesterday that fourth-quarter net sales decreased by 4.1% to $173 million, while the net loss for the period was $20.6 million.
INDEXES
The Nasdaq fell 1.1% to 15,949.12.
—Kevin Costelloe
March 11
HEALTHCARE
Staar Surgical Co. (Nasdaq: STAA) rose 9.8% to $39.36 with a market cap of $1.4 billion. Shares of the Lake Forest-based lens maker were up after Stifel analyst Thomas Stephan upgraded Staar’s rating to Buy from Hold with a price target of $50, up from $30.
Stifel said the company’s shares have pulled back notably since late 2022 “as investor excitement toward EVO’s domestic opportunity has deteriorated,” The Fly reported. Stephan believes the company’s “conservative” 2024 guidance, U.S. EVO “green-shoots,” and a trough valuation can allow investors to “weather these storms, at discounted prices for a differentiated asset/technology.”
Santa Ana-based NKGen Biotech Inc. (Nasdaq: NKGN) jumped 15% to $2.51 apiece and a $54 million market cap. Shares of the biotech firm have tripled since last week when it announced the upcoming data presentation at the Tau2024 Global Conference in Washington, D.C. at the end of March.
–Emily Santiago-Molina
March 8
ENGINEERING
Anaheim-based engineering firm Willdan Group (Nasdaq: WLDN) rose 26% to $24.94 per share for a market cap of $340 million after a strong earnings report yesterday. Wedbush Securities raised the firm’s price target on Willdan to $30 from $25 and has kept the outperform rating on the shares. Willdan reported “blowout” fourth quarter results, while providing conservative 2024 guidance, and Wedbush believes recent deal flow and pipeline conversion will ultimately result in strong net revenue growth throughout 2024, the analyst tells investors in a research note according to the website The Fly.com.
Irvine-based chip company Mobix Labs (NASDAQ: MOBX) fell 25% to $1.31 per share, close to the lowest since the company went public in December, for a market cap of $34 million.
The price for a barrel of oil fell 1.2% to $78.02
Gold rose 1.6% to $2,200.30.
—Kevin Costelloe