Top 5 Small Cap Companies To Watch In Right Now

Yesterday, shares of small cap pain stock�Zalicus Inc (NASDAQ: ZLCS) caused�recent investors some extreme plain�when shares plunged 72.28% (but�are still up 100% since the start of the year) after drug candidate Z160 failed two mid-stage clinical trials���meaning�its probably time to take an objective look at what to do with this stock (as it intends to�focus on its pain treatment Z944) plus take a look at the performance of biotech industry benchmarks like the iShares NASDAQ Biotechnology Index ETF (NASDAQ: IBB) and SPDR S&P Biotech ETF (NYSEARCA: XBI).

What is Zalicus Inc?

Small cap Zalicus Zalicus Inc discovers and develops treatments for pain.�Its internal pipeline includes or had included�Z160, an N-type calcium channel blocker for chronic neuropathic pain and Z944, a T-type calcium channel blocker for acute and inflammatory pain. Zalicus Inc also has a pre-clinical Ion channel program, which is advancing lead candidates for potential clinical development in pain; along with�partnered programs in other therapeutic areas as it receives royalty and milestone revenue from both Covidien/Mallinckrodt Inc. for Exalgo (hydromorphone HCl) extended-release tablets for the management of moderate to severe pain in opioid tolerant patients, and from Sanofi/Fovea Pharmaceuticals for�candidate Prednisporin��FOV1101, a topical ocular drug candidate to treat inflammatory ocular diseases such as persistent allergic conjunctivitis.

Hot Restaurant Stocks For 2015: Panera Bread Company(PNRA)

Panera Bread Company, together with its subsidiaries, owns, operates, and franchises retail bakery-cafes in the United States and Canada. Its bakery-cafes offer fresh baked goods, sandwiches, soups, salads, custom roasted coffees, and other complementary products, as well as provide catering services. The company also manufactures and supplies dough and other products to company-owned and franchise-operated bakery-cafes. As of March 29, 2011, it owned and franchised 1,467 bakery-cafes under the Panera Bread, Saint Louis Bread Co., and Paradise Bakery & Cafe names. The company was founded in 1981 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By BubbleBustInvesting]

  Three popular franchises, Panera Bread (PNRA), Dunkin' Brands (DNKN), and Starbucks (SBUX) are reporting Q1 earnings this week. Analysts expect Panera Bread to report earnings in the range of $1.68 to $1.58; Dunkin Brands in the range of 0.32 50 0.28; and Starbucks in the range of 0.52 to 0.47.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA  ) will release its quarterly report tomorrow, and investors are hoping that the company will be able to produce the same growth that its rapidly rising stock price has promised. As with most high-growth stocks, Panera earnings will need to accelerate to make shareholders truly happy.

• [By Chris Hill]

  Last Friday, McDonald's (NYSE: MCD  ) CEO Bob Thompson told CNBC that McDonald's may consider serving breakfast throughout the day. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX  ) and Panera (NASDAQ: PNRA  ) have racked success with their breakfast offerings. Will McDonald's be able to take a bite out of the competition with all-day breakfast offerings? In this installment of MarketFoolery, our analysts talk about the business of breakfast.

Top 5 Small Cap Companies To Watch In Right Now: Petroquest Energy Inc(PQ)

PetroQuest Energy, Inc. operates as an independent oil and gas company. It engages in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of oil and gas properties in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Texas, as well as onshore and in the shallow waters offshore the Gulf Coast Basin. As of December 31, 2009, the company had estimated proved reserves of 1,931 thousand barrels of oil and 167,361 million cubic feet equivalent of natural gas. It owned working interests in 9 net producing oil wells and 277 net producing gas wells. PetroQuest Energy was founded in 1983 and is headquartered in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  PetroQuest Energy Inc. (NYSE: PQ) was downgraded to Neutral from Overweight at J.P. Morgan.

  Rubicon Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: RBCN) was downgraded to Underperform from Perform at Oppenheimer.

Top 5 Small Cap Companies To Watch In Right Now: EZchip Semiconductor Limited(EZCH)

EZchip, a fabless semiconductor company, engages in the development and marketing of Ethernet network processors for networking equipment. Its products include network processor chips, evaluation boards and network-processor based systems, and development software toolkits. The company offers network processors for use in forming the silicon core of networking equipment, such as switches and routers; and for voice, video and data integration in various applications. Its network processors are single-chip solutions, which enable its customers to design multi-port line cards, such as processing and classification engines, traffic managers, media access controllers, as well as a range of specialized hardware blocks that accelerate various functions. The company offers Evaluation systems which enable customers to test NPU-based systems; and toolkits that assist customers in creating, verifying, and implementing solutions based on its network processors. It provides a library f eaturing data plane code for a range of applications, which include Metro Ethernet protocols, Multi-Protocol Label Switching, IPv4 and IPv6 routing, Access Control Lists, GPON/EPON OLT functionality, Network Address Translation, and Server Load Balancing. The company sells its products directly, and through contract manufacturers and distributors to network equipment vendors. It markets its products in Israel, China, Hong Kong, the Far East, Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company was formerly known as LanOptics Ltd. and changed its name to EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. in July 2008. EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. was founded in 1989 and is based in Yokneam, Israel.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jake L'Ecuyer]

  EZchip Semiconductor (NASDAQ: EZCH) was also up, gaining 7.16 percent to $24.11 after a Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) announced a new product that would not threaten the company as previously thought. Equities Trading DOWN
  Shares of Cypress Semiconductor (NASDAQ: CY) were down 16.05 percent to $9.91 after the company lowered its Q3 forecast.

• [By Evan Niu, CFA]

  What: Shares of EZchip (NASDAQ: EZCH  ) have jumped today by as much as 13% after the company reported first-quarter earnings.

  So what: Revenue in the first quarter totaled $15.3 million, topping the Street's forecast of $15.1 million. Non-GAAP net income per share came in at $0.23, which was right on target with expectations.

• [By Paul McWilliams]

  Paul McWilliams: Oh, absolutely. Another company that most investors probably have never heard of is a tiny little Israeli semiconductor company named EZChip (EZCH).

Top 5 Small Cap Companies To Watch In Right Now: China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited(CNR)

China Metro-Rural Holdings Limited, through its subsidiaries, primarily engages in the development and operation of agricultural logistics and trade centers in northeast China. It also involves in purchasing, processing, assembling, merchandising, and distributing pearls and jewelry products. The company markets its pearls and jewelry products to wholesale distributors and mass merchandisers in Europe, the United States, Hong Kong, and other parts of Asia. In addition, it develops, sells, and leases residential and commercial properties in Hong Kong and the People?s Republic of China. The company is based in Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Katie Brennan]

  Canadian National Railway Co. (CNR) added 0.9 percent to C$104.93 and Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. rose 1.7 percent to C$131.73.

  Niko Resources surged 3.4 percent to $8.64 after the company entered an agreement for a $60 million loan that will be funded by a group of institutional investors. Net proceeds from the loan will be used to fund working capital requirements.