MDCC Fluctuations

[bighomage]

I'm still really new to the stock market and trying to figure out some of the dynamics of the market. A stock I've been following, Molecular Devices (MDCC), has had an interesting last couple of days so I was wondering if anyone could explain to me what caused its fluctuations, so I can understand some of the market better.

Yesterday afternoon, it had a conference call to announce its 2nd quarter earnings. The revenue was a record high and a significant jump over the same quarter last year. For the day, the stock jumped (which makes sense to me) about 3.5%. However, on Yahoo! finance, it said last night that in after hours trading, the stock plummeted by about the same amount, placing its price at a slightly lower value than it had opened at that day. Sure enough, today it opened at about that price, wiping out all the gains from the day before.

So, I understand why the stock went up from the new articles I read, but can anyone look at the articles and explain to me why it went back down immediately? An explanation would be of immense help to me.

[Sniper]

My quick take on MDCC trading yesterday:

The stock ran up yesterday into its earnings announcement. This is not an unusual occurance.

After the market closed yesterday the company announced Q2 earnings which beat analyst estimates by .01, however, their Q3 guidance of .22-.24 was below analyst estimates of .25.

After the earnings announcement, in after hours trading, the stock dropped. This is also not an unusual occurance for a company that ran up into earnings but then guided lower on future earnings.

This company also has a relatively low volume of trading, so it doesn't take much to move the stock price around, especially in after hours.

Here's the nasdaq reported trading in AfterHours and PreMarket (note the wide swings)...
After Hours
Time (ET) After Hours / Price After Hours / Share Volume
17.12 $ 21.50 100
16.53 $ 21.10 250
16.27 $ 20.75 500
16.27 $ 20.77 250
16.25 $ 20.76 400
16.22 $ 21 500
16.20 $ 21 200
16.20 $ 21.74 400
16.20 $ 21.78 300
16.20 $ 21.78 2000
16.05 $ 21.81 15000
16.01 $ 21.80 150

Pre-Market Time (ET) / Pre-Market Price / Pre-Market Share Volume
09.25 $ 21.73 100
09.00 $ 21.75 500
08.47 $ 21.09 100
08.25 $ 21 100

MDCC stats today during regular market hours (so far):
Open: 21.23
High: 21.56 (reached in the opening minutes - around 9:35 ET)
Low: 20.81 (around 10:10 ET)
Price @2pmish ET: 20.90
Vol: roughly 120,000

On their website, in the investor relations section is a link to today's conference call on earnings, you might want to listen to it.

Also of interest, insiders have been net selling over the past year.

[bighomage]

[ QUOTE ]
Also of interest, insiders have been net selling over the past year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Where can one find this information?

[BadBoyBenny]

Any finance site (like yahoo finance). The insiders are required to disclose their transactions to the SEC.