Newport Beach-based American Vanguard Corporation’s shares rose 10 percent on Friday soon after the company announced that it was reorganizing the Sales and Marketing function of its subsidiary AMVAC Chemical Company.

AMVAC’s Chief Operating Officer Trevor Thorley will take over the responsibility for the organization’s sales and marketing efforts beginning July 1, 2009. However, he will continue his responsibilities as Chief Operating Officer, which include overseeing technology, regulatory issues, manufacturing and administrative functions. The company’s current sales leader Chris Hildreth will resign on June 30, 2009, but he will stay connected with AMVAC through specific projects and consulting. (more…)

According to the Wall Street Journal, Lake Forest-based Disk Drive maker Western Digital Corp. and Costa Mesa-based military body armor supplier Ceradyne Inc. filed lawsuits against bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., alleging the latter misled them about the market for auction-rate debt.

The two former clients of Lehman sued the bank for nearly $200 million claiming to have “suffered a devastating financial impact induced by (Lehman’s) deceptive sales practices with respect to auction-rate securities, a supposedly liquid financial product,” that they can not sell. Auction-rate securities are corporate or government debts with an interest rate that resets daily, weekly or monthly through an auction (periodic auctions.) (more…)

Shares of STEC Inc. were under pressure and finally fell on Wednesday after B. Riley & Co. analyst Mike Crawford downgraded the stock to Neutral from Buy on a valuation basis. STEC is a leading global provider of Solid State technologies based in Santa Ana, California.

The shares fell nearly 4 percent and it closed at $20.14 on Wednesday. However, Crawford said that the company “has had a historic run—a run which we believe fairly encompasses the good news to date.” (more…)