BetterTrades

MAPP – MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. ($3.15 to $12.09) +283.8%

The largest percentage moving stock during the previous week came from MAP Pharmaceuticals Inc. (MAPP), a user of proprietary inhalation technologies to enhance the therapeutic benefits and commercial attractiveness of proven drugs while minimizing risk by capitalizing on their known safety, efficacy and commercialization history. The company’s has two advanced product candidates, a proprietary formulation of nebulized budesonide for the potential treatment of children with asthma, and a proprietary formulation of inhaled dihydroergotamine for the potential treatment of migraine.

During the middle of last week, the company’s inhaled migraine therapy drug, Levadex, surpassed all four trial endpoints for the drug in the first of the drug’s late-stage clinical trials. The trial included analytical data relating to the patient’s level of pain relief, as well as being phonophobia-, photophobia- and nausea-free for at least two hours after dosing.

Shashidhar Kori, vice president of clinical development and medical affairs at MAP Pharmaceuticals stated, "Levadex showed sustained pain relief for up to two days in this trial with fewer of the side effects generally seen with commonly used migraine treatments."

The company plans to release additional data from the clinical trials in the coming weeks. Furthermore, an analyst from Deutsche Bank raised the company’s outlook from a “hold” rating to a “buy,” citing that Levadex should have a release date in late 2011 and could reach sales of more than $250M.

Following the release of clinical results, the company’s stock took off in trading for the remainder of the week. After starting the week trading in the low $3 range, MAPP surged more than 280% to conclude the week just over $12 a share. However, to start the first trading session in June, MAPP shares slipped 6%, or $0.72, to close out the trading week at $11.37 per share. Over the course of a year, shares of MAPP have traded within a range between $1.57 and $14.80 per share.

YGE – Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. ($9.35 to $12.80) +36.9%

With the days becoming increasingly warmer and sunnier, energy stocks, more notably solar companies, have begun to increase their market share as the overall markets continue on their multi-month uptrend. Included in theses stocks is Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (YGE), which posted solid gains over the past week, despite revealing a lower-than-expected earnings report to close out the week before last.

Yingli, a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic products in China, has expanded rapidly since being incorporated in 1998. When the company began production of polysilicon wafers, its annual production capacity has expanded from three megawatts of PV modules to ninety-five megawatts of polysilicon ingots and wafers, ninety megawatts of photovoltaic, or PV, cells and one hundred megawatts of PV modules.

Even with a 1Q loss of $20.7M, or $0.16 per ADS, the company’s stock remained resilient and posted substantial gains over the past week of trading. Yingli also reported that quarterly sales fell nearly 38% year-over-year to $146.3M. At first glance, investors would assume that Yingli’s stock should be getting battered these days, but that is not the case. In fact, the stock jumped nearly 37% over the course of a week, as well as being upgraded by analysts from Collins Stewart and Lazard Capital Markets.

By the end of the holiday-shortened trading week, shares of YGE added more than $3 per share during that time frame. Over the past 52 weeks, Yingli shares have traded as high as $21.44 per share, and as low as $2.50 per share. YGE shares continued on their torrent pace to start the new trading week, adding nearly 11%, or $1.40, to close out Monday’s session at $14.20 per share.

CSIQ – Canadian Solar Inc. ($10.01 to $13.23) +32.2%

Another solar company benefiting from increasing market strength, Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ), posted solid stock moves throughout the previous week, even with a loss recorded in the company’s most recent 1Q. The company citied a decline in average sale prices as well as a decrease in shipments that weighed heavily on the bottom-line amidst the current global recession.

Operating as a vertically integrated manufacturer of solar modules and customer-designed solar application products, Canadian Solar is incorporated in Canada, yet conducts all of its manufacturing operations in China. In similar circumstances as Yingli Green Energy, CSIQ booked a quarterly loss, yet somehow managed to influence investors enough to push shares more than 30% higher over the course of a week.

In their earnings report, CSIQ took a net loss of $4.8M, or $0.13 per share compared to a profit of $18.6M, or $0.57 per share a year earlier. The key catalyst to the company’s loss was a 71% decline in sales, which fell from $171.2M to $49.5M, due largely to the economic environment.

Despite the company’s lack-luster quarterly performance, Canadian Solar has more than quadrupled over the past three months, and seen a handful of upgrades along the way. The most recent was from Oppenheimer, which raised their target price to $14 per share and rated the stock as “outperform,” up from “perform.”

Canadian Solar "managed its balance sheet significantly better than peers throughout this downturn," confirmed Sam Dubinsky an Oppenheimer analyst, adding that overall, the company is undervalued.

Concluding May at just over $13 per share, the past week proved to be quite beneficial for the stock, adding 32.2% in market value. During the past year, shares of Canadian Solar have traded within a range between $3.00 and $51.80 per share. Albeit a far cry from their yearly high set back in late June 2008, shares of CSIQ posted modest gains to start the new month in trading, adding $0.42, or 3.2%, to end the first session in June at $13.65 per share.