Shares of Newport Beach chipmaker Mindspeed Technologies Inc. surged Tuesday for the second time in three days.
The company’s shares closed up 10% on a market value of $80 million, making Mindspeed one of the eye-catching local gainers on an up day on Wall Street.
On Friday, the chipmaker’s shares also rose 10% on heavier than normal trading.
The stock paused with a largely flat showing Monday.
The reasons behind the surges on Tuesday and Friday aren’t entirely clear.
The big swings are due at least in part to the low price of Mindspeed’s shares,about $3 each,and the impact a rush of investors have on a stock that usually sees sparse trading of less than 500,000 shares a day.
On Friday, an analyst with Craig-Hallum Capital Group LLC in Minneapolis started covering Mindspeed with a “buy” recommendation.
The company plans to release quarterly results on Oct. 26.
In July, Mindspeed surprised Wall Street by saying it’s set to turn a profit for the recently ended quarter but didn’t give specific figures.
Mindspeed’s networking chips help run wide-area networks in cities and voice over Internet protocol devices that allow phone calls over Internet lines.
The company’s shares have surged about 200% since the spring downturn.
