LocateStock.com Daily High Five For Friday January 18, 2008

Jersey City, NJ – January 18, 2008

The LocateStock.com HIGH FIVE for Friday, January 18^th are:

5 – DryShips – NASDAQ:DRYS

4 – Radian Group – NYSE:RDN

3 – Converted Organics – NASDAQ:COIN

2 – Ambac – NYSE:ABK

1 – MBIA – NYSE:MBI

DryShips, Inc. (NASDAQ:DRYS) engages in the ownership and operation of drybulk carriers worldwide. The company's fleet carries various drybulk commodities, including coal, iron ore, and grains, bauxite, phosphate, fertilizers, and steel products.

* The Associated Press reported that shares of Greek shipper DryShips may be poised for trading above average on Thursday, following news that it will not go ahead with a planned 3-for-1 stock split for the time being because of "recent developments" in its share price. The company's share price has declined about 37% since the split was announced on Nov. 12. Shares of DRYS have been trading down all week, coming off more than 15% earlier in the week, to most recently lose 25 cents or .48% to $52.18 on Thursday.

Radian Group, Inc., (NYSE:RDN) through its subsidiaries and affiliates, operates as a credit enhancement company that provides credit protection products and financial services to mortgage lenders and other financial institutions. It operates in three segments: Mortgage Insurance, Financial Guaranty, and Financial Services.

* Shares of mortgage insurers continued to plunge Thursday after a Commerce Department report offered little hope for a recovery in the housing market. The Commerce Department reported Thursday builders began construction on 1.353 million homes and apartments last year, a 24.8% slide. That was the steepest decline since 1980. Radian Group's shares tumbled $1.50 or 19.06% to $6.37. The stock, which closed Wednesday down 85% in the last six months, reached as low as $6.00 on Thursday, a 13-year low.

Converted Organics, Inc., (NASDAQ:COIN) a development stage company, intends to manufacture, sell, and distribute natural soil amendment products combining nutritional and disease suppression characteristics. It uses organic food waste as raw material to manufacture soil amendment products.

 

* Converted Organics announced Thursday that, as a recycling facility, it is exempt from the new tax that will be levied on the majority of solid waste facilities in New Jersey as part of the Recycling Enhancement Act signed into law on Monday, January 14 by Governor Jon Corzine. Shares of COIN plunged $2.62 or 21.28% to $9.69 on the news Thursday, after shedding 2.2% a day earlier.

Ambac Financial Group, Inc., (NYSE:ABK) through its subsidiaries, provides financial guarantee products and other financial services to clients in the public and private sectors worldwide. It operates in two segments: Financial Guarantee and Financial Services.

* An Ambac shareholder told the bond insurer on Thursday to give up its efforts to raise extra capital because the future returns on that new money won't be big enough. Evercore Asset Management, which holds 700,000 Ambac shares, said the bond insurer would be better off giving up its AAA rating and pursuing new business that doesn't require that top rating. Ambac could also go into "runoff," slowly shutting itself down and allowing policies to expire, Evercore added. "From the standpoint of Ambac's current shareholders, there is nothing to be gained from continuing to attempt to maintain a triple-A credit rating," the investor said in a statement. Shares declined 39% Wednesday and an additional $6.73 or 51.89% to $6.24 on Thursday, after earlier bottoming out at $4.50, their lowest point since February 1995.

MBIA, Inc., (NYSE:MBI) through its subsidiaries, provides financial guarantee insurance and credit protection products, as well as investment management services to public finance and structured finance issuers and investors, and capital market participants worldwide. It operates through two segments, Insurance and Investment Management Services.

* MBIA shed $4.18 to $9.22 Thursday on Ambac's news that could put the bond insurer in dire straits. However, a day earlier MBIA Insurance Corporation successfully closed its previously announced private offering of $1 billion Surplus Notes, which the Company has issued as part of its comprehensive plan to strengthen its capital. In connection with the completion of MBIA's Surplus Notes offering, Fitch Ratings also announced that it has reaffirmed the Company's Triple-A ratings with a "Stable Rating Outlook." Shares of MBI were down 23% up until Wednesday, and came off an additional 31.19% Thursday.

The daily HIGH FIVE stocks are determined by the company's proprietary, internal algorithmic calculators. The result is five securities that are the most sought after to borrow, and have proven to be the hottest­ stocks to short that day.

LocateStock.com is the premier electronic securities lending company providing revolutionary, real-time, hard-to-borrow stock locates and market data to hedge funds and professional traders seeking an efficient and private way to borrow stock associated with short sales. The Company recently launched LocateStock TV, a daily financial news show that highlights stock inventory that is available for short sellers to legally borrow and stay in compliance with Regulation SHO. 

For an in-depth market analysis on each individual, hard to borrow stock, tune in daily to LocateStock TV, on http://www.locatestock.com/pressrelease.html

 

CONTACT:     pressrelease@locatestock.com / 201-332-6800

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