Westworld Healthcare’s Stock Plunges

Amid news of a pending second-quarter loss, Westworld Community Healthcare Inc. fell to a new 12-month low last week, closing Friday at $4.75 a share--close to its lowest price since going public in 1983 and a 66% plunge since April 1, when the stock closed at $14 per share.

In an interview last week, Michael Dunn, Westworld’s chairman and chief executive, said the company would post a second-quarter loss, contrasted with net earnings of $782,000 a year ago.

Emulex Corp. last week made the over-the-counter market’s most-active list when more than 1.5 million shares--nearly 12% of the Costa Mesa-based company’s stock--changed hands in a pre-arranged sale.

Two of Emulex’s institutional holders sold their shares to six other institutions in an across-the-board transaction Tuesday.

Andrew J. Neff, who follows Emulex for the San Francisco investment banking firm of Montgomery Securities Inc., declined to say which institutions were involved in the deal, but he said the sales were tied to recently lowered Wall Street earnings estimates for the company.

On Friday, Emulex closed at $6.125 a share, down 50 cents for the week. Friday’s close was off more than 50% from the company’s 12-month high of $12.75 a share.