Mar. 15--Eagle

It's good to be an Okie.

With the major stock indexes gaining about 10 percent last week and crude oil prices rising nicely, all but a handful of Oklahoma's publicly traded companies posted gains over the last five trading days.

We're going to make like Wall Street and the government and share the wealth.

Here are a few of last week's biggest local gainers: Gulfport Energy soared 66 percent. Bronco Drilling jumped 43 percent. Vaughan Foods gained 58 percent. Ram Energy rose 50 percent. Continental Resources spurted 31 percent.

At least for now, spring is in the air.

On the other hand, our beagle has seen better weeks.

GMX Resources, an Oklahoma City energy company, announced Monday that it was cutting its 2009 capital spending by up to $150 million.

A day later, the company announced that its largest shareholder had delivered a letter asking directors to "evaluate strategic options" for the company. GMX said it believes its current business plan "reflects a balanced and prudent approach in light of currently prevailing economic conditions."

In one more piece of bad news, analysts from Jeffries & Co., while maintaining a "buy" recommendation, cut their target price on GMXR to $18 from $54.

The stock set a 52-week low of $5.96 Thursday before closing the week at $7.05. For the week, GMXR shares fell 26 percent.

Eagle & Beagle is a weekly look at the State's high-performing (eagle) and low-performing (beagle) stocks by Business Writer Don Mecoy

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