Top Performing Small Cap Stocks: Friday 6/17 (NCT, AXN, BPZ, PRMW, ZRAN)

Small cap investors have been searching far and wide for the hottest stocks, including the beaten-down real estate market.

On Friday they found a winner in Newcastle Investment, a New York-based investment company that holds a portfolio of debt secured by commercial and residential real estate. Primarily it focuses on commercial property, which makes up $2.7 billion of its $4.2 billion in holdings. Bringing back its dividend brought back investor interest.

Investors will be waiting to see this week if Federal Reserve policymakers telegraph their interest rate intentions when they announce the outcome of a two-day meeting on Wednesday afternoon.

Last Friday, the Russell 2000 index finished 0.03 percent higher, and is still just above break-even for the year. The Standard & Poor's Small Cap 600 rose 0.04 percent, and is up 1.3 percent year-to-date.

Friday's Top Performing Small Cap Stocks (Data provided by Capital IQ)

Newcastle Investment NCT: The real estate investment and finance company reinstated its cash dividend and said that it has nearly doubled its cash investments.

Aoxing Pharmaceutical AXN: The Chinese drugmaker that specializes in narcotics and pain-control medications announced that it had received a patent in its homeland for an oral derivative of opium.

BPZ Resources BPZ: The oil and gas company which concentrates on exploring Peru and Ecuador released promising estimates on the production potential for an offshore site. Shares traded as high as $6.83 in early March.

Primo Water PRMW: The distributor of purified bottled water through retailers, announced pricing for a secondary stock offering of 6 million shares. The North Carolina company, owned in part by water softener-maker Culligan, went public last November.

Zoran ZRAN: The developer of digital signal processing technologies used in many electronics agreed to be acquired by British chipmaker CSR for $484 million, about 30 percent less than the initial offer in February because of a deteriorating share price.