Investors Guru Featured Stock News - Amex/TSX: URZ Uranerz Energy

Uranerz Included in the Russell Family of Indexes

CASPER, WYOMING -- Uranerz Energy Corporation ("Uranerz" or the "Company") (TSX:URZ)(NYSE Amex:URZ)(FRANKFURT:U9E) is pleased to announce that it has been included in the Russell family of indexes, including the Russell 3000® Index, the Russell 2000® Index, and the Russell Global Index.

Annual reconstitution of Russell's U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the Russell 1000® Index or Russell 2000® Index as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. The Russell 3000 also serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index.

Membership in the Russell Global Index, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the appropriate large-cap, small-cap, all-cap indexes as well as the applicable style, sector and country indexes. The Russell Global Index is reconstituted annually and all sub-indexes are recalibrated simultaneously to accurately measure current market realities for each market segment.

Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.

Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading $3.9 trillion in institutional assets currently are benchmarked to them. More information about membership in the Russell Indexes can be found at: http://www.russell.com/indexes/membership/default.asp.

About Uranerz

Uranerz Energy Corporation is a U.S.-based uranium company focused on achieving near-term commercial in-situ recovery ("ISR") uranium production in Wyoming, the largest producer of uranium of any U.S. state. The Uranerz management team has specialized expertise in the ISR uranium mining method, and has a record of licensing, constructing and operating commercial ISR uranium projects.

Uranerz Energy Corporation is listed on the NYSE Amex and the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "URZ", and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "U9E".

Further Information

For further information, please contact Derek Iwanaka, Manager of Investor Relations at 1-800-689-1659 or by email at info@uranerz.com. Alternatively, please refer to the Company's website at www.uranerz.com, review the Company's filings with the SEC at www.sec.gov, or visit the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release may contain or refer to "forward-looking information" and "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of applicable United States and Canadian securities laws, which may include, but are not limited to, statements with respect to the anticipated impact of inclusion in the Russell Indexes and all other statements containing predictions, estimates or projections. Such forward-looking statements reflect the Company's current views with respect to future events and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including the risks and uncertainties outlined in the Company's most recent financial statements and reports and registration statement filed with the SEC (available at www.sec.gov) and with Canadian securities regulators (available at www.sedar.com). Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. We do not undertake to update forward-looking information or forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

Contacts:
Uranerz Energy Corporation
Derek Iwanaka
Manager of Investor Relations
1-800-689-1659
info@uranerz.com
www.uranerz.com

Source: Marketwire (June 28, 2011 - 9:03 AM EDT)

Investors Guru Small Cap Stock Observer

(Amex/TSX: URZ) Uranerz Energy – Uranerz To Be Added To Russell Indexes

Last month's article outlined our observations of the market effects each May and June as a result of the Russell Group's annual indexes reconstitution. For more established large-cap stocks these effects are usually minimal, maybe a bump up or down within an index, or a weighting change.

However for small-cap stocks the effects on trading volumes, and as a result share prices, can be very significant as market participants from day traders to index funds bid-up or sell-off shares in anticipation of which companies may be added-to or deleted-from the widely followed Russell 2000 index. As these indexes get finalized at the end of June, index funds must update their holdings to reflect these changes, resulting in one of the stock market's highest volume trading days each year, with wild share price swings for some of the stocks most affected.

To demonstrate this point we looked at the past performance of our Featured Stock (Amex/TSX: URZ) Uranerz Energy, which had been added to various Russell indexes for the first time in 2009. These included the Russell 3000, Russell 2000, Russell Microcap, and Russell Global indexes.

Our charts showed that Uranerz's shares were up 49.40%, from $1.39 on April 30, 2009 to $2.13 on June 26, 2009. Normal URZ trading volume back then was a few hundred thousand shares per day, which spiked to over 5-million shares as the Russell 2000 was finalized on Friday June 26, 2009.

Similarly, our charts showed that URZ was down 41.83%, from $1.59 on May 3, 2010 to $0.91 on July 8, 2010. Volume again spiked to over 4-million shares as the company was removed from the Russell 2000 on Friday June 25, 2010.

Uranerz Energy is a good case study of the potential addition and deletion effects during the Russell indexes June reconstitution. Other than being added to the Russell indexes, can you find anything else in the company's May-June 2009 news releases to explain why URZ was up almost 50%, with its volume up 18 fold - or in May-June 2010 to explain why URZ was down over 40%. I can't!

There is another reason why Uranerz Energy is an interesting study going into this year's Russell indexes reconstitution. Hint: last month's article was entitled, "Will Uranerz Energy Be Inducted To The Russell 2000 Index Next Month?"

Traders and fund managers are closely watching this timeline, from Russell Group's website:

Uranerz Energy selected as a preliminary addition to Russell indexes

As of June 10, 2011, and again on June 17, 2011, the Russell Group's website still lists Uranerz Energy as an addition to the Russell Global index and the Russell 3000 index. The Russell 3000 index measures the performance of the largest 3000 U.S. companies, based almost entirely on market capitalization at the end of May.

The Russell 1000 index and Russell 2000 index are subsets of the Russell 3000 index. Basically the largest 1000 companies makeup the Russell 1000, and the remaining companies makeup the Russell 2000. The Russell 2000 index is the key benchmark for small-cap companies, small-cap fund managers and small-cap index funds.

For Uranerz Energy, being added to this year's Russell 3000 and Global indexes appears to be a done deal at this point. The question now is will Uranerz also make this year's final cut for the widely followed Russell 2000 small-cap index?

Traders potential sweet spot before final posting of the Russell 2000 small-cap index

While there may be a few surprises, from those stocks preliminary listed as compared to the final lists, these are usually limited to mathematical errors or technical issues such as weighting adjustments, as I understand it. This might be a concern for a company close to an index's market-cap cut-off line, or when operating in a crowded business sector, for example.

This doesn't seem to be an issue for Uranerz Energy. Of the 186 preliminary additions to the Russell 3000 index, only 18 of these are in the Materials & Processing sector that Uranerz is classified under. (Amex/TSX: URZ) Uranerz Energy is a uranium company, and the only other uranium additions I can find are (Nasdaq: URRE) Uranium Resources and (Amex: URG) Ur-Energy. Far from crowded!

Also, the table above indicates the market capitalization range for the Russell 2000 index from $130 million to just under $3 billion. On May 31, 2011, URZ closed at $3.20 on the NYSE/Amex. My quote screen shows 76,604,074 shares outstanding, putting the company's market capitalization at over USD $245 million - over $100 million more than the bottom of this range.

FYI: Uranerz Energy also trades on the TSX, symbol T.URZ and on the Frankfurt, symbol U9E:FF.

Based on last year's Russell 2000 membership list and sampling market-caps of smaller companies on this year's preliminary Russell 3000 list, this might put Uranerz Energy around 100 companies above the cut-off line. Please keep in mind this is just a very rough estimate, to get a feel for how much margin of error URZ might have to make the cut into this year's Russell 2000 index.

Unless my calculations are way off, Uranerz Energy should easily qualify for the Russell 2000 index.

The potential sweet spot for traders is that most index funds can't, or don't, update their holdings until the Russell Group formally posts their final indexes membership lists on June 27. That is the main reason for all the trading volume spikes seen on the last Friday of June, as index funds buy the additions and sell the deletions.

In other words there is a small window of time currently when keen traders can usually figure out who these additions and deletions are - before the index funds have to update their holdings.

Dundee Capital Markets, June 15, 2011 Uranerz Energy Update

This report updates Uranerz and another uranium company, entitled, "To Be Added To The Russell Index - We Believe History Predicts A Stock Pop."

For brevity and to avoid repetition here are some snippets: "It is not every day that investors get handed a potential trade where they have strong potential for share appreciation over a short period of time. Based on stock performance over past years, this appears to be what is currently happening with URZ... Russell indices are widely used by investors for index funds and ~$3.9-trillion in institutional assets currently are benchmarked to them.

While the impact of reconstitution may be noticeable for large-cap stocks, the impact on small-cap names has often been immense. Most index investors are going to wait until another preliminary list is announced on June 17, and the final list announced on June 24, before they are bound to the inclusion by June 27. This gives some time for the speculators to buy before we see the likely bump in trading on June 24th." ... Dundee can provide the full 7-page report with its Uranerz Energy stock rating and price target.

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Investors Guru Small Cap Stock Observer

(Amex/TSX: URZ) Uranerz Energy – Will Uranerz Energy Be Inducted To The Russell 2000 Index Next Month?

It’s interesting to observe the technical trading of certain stocks from the end of May until the end of June each year. This annual event impacts the share volumes and prices of many listed companies as fund managers, investors and traders realign their portfolios in anticipation of each company’s pecking order in the family of Russell Indexes.

Some of this anticipation trading is to avoid paying higher prices, or to avoid receiving lower prices; later at the end of June as these indexes get finalized, and when index funds have to update their holdings. The balance of the higher-than-usual trading volumes may be attributed to short-term players trading the event, or longer-term investors positioning early, before the index changes are formally announced and then become more widely known.

Annual reconstitution of Russell's 25 U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the appropriate Russell indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings.

For large-caps the effects may only be minimal. Changes often result in inclusion on an additional index, removal from one of several indexes, or a weighting change compared to other component companies. These one-notch moves up or down are usually not significant either way.

However the effects can be a very big deal for small-cap stocks - especially when added to its first index, or when deleted from its only index! Trading volumes, and as a result stock prices, often get a major push as index funds and other players accumulate the stock of new inductees. Conversely, small caps that get bumped entirely from a family of indexes often sell-off as institutional support and trading volumes disappear.

What happened to URZ last year, when it was removed from the Russell 2000 Index?

While reviewing past (Amex/TSX: URZ) Uranerz Energy news releases I noticed that on June 14, 2010 Uranerz Energy was identified as a potential deletion from the Russell family of indexes. At that time Uranerz Energy was included in the Russell 3000 Index, the Russell 2000 Index, the Russell Microcap Index, and the Russell Global Index.

The URZ chart below indicates a decline of 41.83%, from $1.59 on May 3, 2010 to $0.91 on July 8, 2010. The Simple Moving Average SMA blue line and the Volume-Plus chart confirm a downtrend with URZ closing lower on about three times as many days as it closed up.

Notice how URZ’s trading volume started building from the middle of June last year, around when they announced the company may be deleted from the Russell Indexes. Normal URZ volume this time last year was a few hundred thousand shares daily, but on June 25, 2010 the volume spiked to 4-million shares on this URZ down Friday.

Russell finalized the reconstitution of their indexes after the market closed on that day and Uranerz Energy was deleted from the Russell 2000 Index.

What happened to URZ the year before, when it was first added to the Russell 2000 Index?

Now let’s see what happened to URZ the year before in anticipation of, and after, changes made to the Russell Indexes at the end of June 2009. The chart below indicates that URZ increased 49.40%, from $1.39 on April 30, 2009 to $2.13 on June 26, 2009.

Russell finalized the reconstitution of their indexes after the market closed on June 26, 2009 and Uranerz Energy was added to the Russell 2000 Index, and other Russell Indexes. Volume spiked again to over 5-million shares on that URZ up Friday.

I expect that if we looked at several small cap stocks that were either newly added or removed entirely from the Russell Indexes, that many would have similar price swings from the end of May to the end June each year. On the other hand, perhaps these swings are more the exception than the rule - I don’t know, as I haven’t tested this Russell Indexes addition and deletion effect on many stocks.

What does Russell say about the effects of their index changes?

From an April 2007 Russell Research Commentary, “Russell Research – Price Pressure at Russell Index Reconstitution”, the Abstract explains how investor speculation, based on anticipated changes to the Russell Indexes, can materially effect stock prices.

“The transparent rules of the Russell Index Methodology allow index changes at reconstitution to be anticipated long in advance. Investors in index funds may be concerned about possible losses due to speculative trading around reconstitution. These effects are particularly pronounced in the case of the small cap Russell 2000 Index, due to its popularity and due to the impact of changes at the top end of the index.

From the Introduction, “Ranked by market capitalization (cap) values as of May-end, in essence the thousand largest U.S. common stocks become the Russell 1000 Index, and the next two thousand stocks become the Russell 2000 Index, when the indexes are reconstituted near the end of June. With knowledge of these rules, it is possible to predict with good accuracy the changes in the index constituents long in advance of the annual reconstitution. Information about the expected changes enables portfolio managers to adjust their portfolios accordingly. The growth in popularity of the indexes has led to a substantial volume of trading around the time of the reconstitution. In addition to index fund managers, active fund managers and other participants may choose to trade in anticipation of or in response to the event.”

For more about the Russell Indexes Reconstitution visit: 
http://www.russell.com/indexes/data/reconstitution/default.asp

What does this mean for URZ this June?

It does seem fairly clear that when Uranerz Energy has been added to, or deleted from, the Russell 2000, that URZ’s trading volume has spiked - with significant price changes over a relatively short period of time. Please keep in mind these observations are based on past events and obviously there is no guarantee of a repeat performance even if URZ is added to the Russell 2000 Index again.

The question now is will Uranerz Energy be added to the Russell 2000 and other Russell Indexes this June? As I understand it, this is based almost entirely on market capitalization at the end of May. The largest 1000 companies comprise the Russell 1000, and the next largest 2000 companies makeup the Russell 2000. It’s basically that simple.

What’s not simple is calculating the market-caps for thousands of companies, with ever changing share prices. However for Uranerz Energy, over the past year URZ has more than doubled in price as did the company's market-cap, currently US$ 225 million.

It’s hard to say exactly where the Russell 2000 market-cap cut-off line will be this year. Uranerz Energy made the cut back in 2009, when its share price and number of shares outstanding were significantly lower than now.

In other words Uranerz Energy has a much higher market-cap now than it did when previously inducted to the Russell 2000 Index. Stay tuned!

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