The Best And Worst Channel Stocks Of 2011 (So Far)

Best And Worst Channel Stocks

Channel stocks enjoyed a solid first half on Wall Street, with nine of 14 stocks charted by CRN increasing by more than 10 percent. There were also a few stragglers, with three companies posting declines in their share price for the period from Jan. 1 through June 30, 2011. For comparison purposes, the Dow Jones increased 7.2 percent while Nasdaq was up 4.5 percent through the first six months of the year. Here's a closer look at the best and worst channel stocks of 2011 (so far).

PC Connection

June 30, 2011: $8.28
Dec. 31, 2010: $8.86
Change: -6.5%

PC Connection shares traded between $8.50 and $9.50 through the first 50 or so days of the second quarter, but the stock fell below $8.00 on June 22 and did not regain any momentum the rest of the month.

In early May, the direct marketer reported a 12-percent increase in sales while net income nearly doubled.

Ingram Micro

June 30, 2011: $18.14
Dec. 31, 2010: $19.09
Change: -5.0%

Ingram Micro shares fell $2.22 on April 29 after the company reported less-than-hoped-for earnings the day before. Also in the second quarter, the distributor unveiled new programs to target health care partners.

Avnet

June 30, 2011: $31.88
Dec. 31, 2010: $33.03
Change: -3.5%

Avnet shares reached a high of $37.81 in mid-May but slowly declined for the rest of the quarter, hitting a low of $29.99 on June 17 before climbing back slightly by the end of the month. Avnet has been very active in the cloud and utility computing front in the second quarter, including the launch of CapacityNow, which allows a VAR's end users to pay for their usage of Hewlett-Packard servers and storage products.

Synnex

June 30, 2011: $31.70
Dec. 31, 2010: $31.20
Change: 1.6%

Shares of Synnex traded between $30 and $34 during the second quarter, ending the quarter nearly flat with where it started 2011. In late June, Synnex beat analysts' earnings expectations for the second quarter, but then said it expected third-quarter net income to be below forecasted numbers.

PC Mall

June 30, 2011: $7.78
Dec. 31, 2010: $7.57
Change: 2.8%

PC Mall shares steadily declined in the second quarter after a strong first-quarter on Wall Street, even though the company's first-quarter financial results included healthy revenue and net income increases.

Its $7.20 close on June 27 was the lowest of the quarter before rebounding during the last three days in June.

One June 28, PC Mall announced it had hired Jeff Di Rado as senior vice president of its HealthDynamix division.

INX

June 30, 2011: $7.06
Dec. 31, 2010: $6.40
Change: 10.3%

INX completed an audit of its prior financial statements, about two years worth of accounting headache, but executives announced in June that they were back on track.

Tech Data

June 30, 2011: $48.89
Dec. 31, 2010: $44.02
Change: 11.1%

Tech Data shares are up through the first six months of 2011, but they were closed at more than $53 as recently as May 20. On May 23, shares fell $6.58 after the distributor missed earnings and sales expectations for the first fiscal quarter.

GTSI

June 30, 2011: $5.38
Dec. 31, 2010: $4.71
Change: 14.2%

GTSI shares climbed above the $5.00 threshold on June 3 and remained there the rest of the quarter, emblematic of its slow, steady stock increase for the whole second quarter. On June 1, GTSI announced it had won a $425 million contract from the Federal Aviation Administration technology under the Strategic Acquisition of Various Equipment and Supplies (SAVES) program.

ScanSource

June 30, 2011: $37.48
Dec. 31, 2010: $31.90
Change: 17.5%

ScanSource shares never reached their first-quarter closing price, but they approached that mark late in the second quarter after falling below $33 in April and mid-June. During the second quarter, ScanSource added wireless audio products from Revolabs.

Arrow Electronics

June 30, 2011: $41.50
Dec. 31, 2010: $34.25
Change: 21.2%

Like several other distributor stocks. Arrow Electronics shares peaked in mid-May before declining a bit through the rest of the second quarter. At least Arrow rebounded late, having closed as low as $36.67 on June 24. In May, Arrow acquired Cross Telecom, its second solution provider purchase in less than a year.

Accenture

June 30, 2011: $60.42
Dec. 31, 2010: $48.49
Change: 24.6%

Accenture shares jumped nearly a dollar April 13 after the company announced a 55-cent-per share dividend. Also that month, the company announced survey results that showed video-over-Internet usage among consumers is on the rise.

Sapient

June 30, 2011: $15.03
Dec. 31, 2010: $12.10
Change: 24.2%

Sapient shares jumped nearly $2 per share on May 6, a day after the company announced that first-quarter earnings per share nearly doubled year-over-year while service revenue increased 32 percent.

Insight Enterprises

June 30, 2011: $17.71
Dec. 31, 2010: $13.16
Change: 34.6%

Insight moved into the Top 10 of the VAR 500 for 2011, with sales of $4.8 billion. During the quarter, the company also announced a $50 million stock repurchase initiative.

Agilysys

June 30, 2011: $8.34
Dec. 31, 2010: $5.63
Change: 48.1%

On May 31, Agilysys sold its Technology Solutions Group business, a unit that comprised 70 percent of its fiscal 2011 revenue, to OnX Enterprise Solutions for about $64 million in cash. The company's stock had closed at $4.78 per share the day prior to that announcement. Agilysys is focusing solely on its hospitality and retail business units going forward, according to CEO Jim Dennedy.