Sun: Three on a rise.

(From Israel Business Arena)

Byline: Shlomo Greenberg

I'd like to get one thing off my chest now why did three minor shares rise last Friday? You probably didn't notice, but Silicom (Nasdaq: SILCF) rose 62% on exceptionally large (for Silicom) turnovers (in money, that's only $23,000).

Healthcare Technologies (Nasdaq: HCTL ) soared 136%, also on a $15,000 turnover that was high for the share, but negligible in monetary terms. Sapiens International NV (Nasdaq: SPNS) climbed 4.1% to $1.02, but the share enjoyed a $250,000 turnover, which was truly huge for the company.

What do all three shares have in common? Is there anything that connects these three growth spurts? Don't have an panic attack. The three companies have nothing in common; each of the shares rose for reasons best known to the investors who bought them, and of which I'm totally unaware. At the same time, it's worthwhile guessing why they went up that way, because it's no accident, especially not in the case of Sapiens.

I have no idea what made Silicom go up, but this company, which trades at a market value of $2.3 million, is surely worth a higher price, since its payroll alone amounts to more than that, doesn't it?

The zoom in Healthcare Technologies can be explained by the quarterly report the company published a week ago. Since it was Healthcare Technologies, nobody noticed it. The company's third quarter sales were up 26% to $4.16 million, and the company had a $290,000 profit in the quarter, compared with a $1 million loss in the third quarter last year. Company sales in the first three quarters of the year amounted to $12.5 million, up 4%, compared with the corresponding period last year, and the company made a $760,000 profit, compared with a $1.8 million loss in the same period last year. Healthcare sells mostly diagnostic products, and has done so for years.