(Street Life is a regular feature that focuses on what's playing in the stock market.)

* ACT I: The Home Run Aquiline Resources (TSX:AQI) $5.11 Up 98.1 per cent (July 17 spike on news).

Aquiline hammered an electrifying home run for shareholders when a judge ruled in the company's favour in a lawsuit over rights to the Navidad Silver Project in Argentina that could be worth as much as $1 billion. The B.C. Supreme Court awarded ownership of the project to Aquiline, whose stock nearly doubled on the news on 3.8 million shares despite a weak precious metals market. Toronto-based Aquiline launched the lawsuit in March 2004, alleging that IMA (TSXV:IMR) acquired Navidad using confidential mineral survey data. Aquiline also has other precious minerals projects in Argentina, Mexico and Canada. The ruling was a devastating blow to IMA shareholders, who watched their stock plunge to 70 cents for a single-day loss of 79.4 per cent.

* ACT II: The Bomb Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL) $19.91 US Down 51.4 per cent (12-month decline).

Dell's fall from grace continued when the world's largest computer maker cut its second-quarter revenue and earnings forecasts. The Round Rock, Tex.-based company projected fiscal '07 second-quarter revenue to be approximately $14 billion US and earnings per share to be in the 21- to 23-cent range. Dell blamed the gloomy outlook on "aggressive pricing in a slowing commercial market," an assessment that spooked an already listless tech market. The warning resulted in an instant 9.9-per-cent haircut for Dell shares as the average analyst forecast called for earnings of 32 cents per share on revenue of $14.2 billion, according to Thomson First Call.

* ACT III: The CHUMmy Takeover CHUM Ltd. (TSX:CHM) $51.25 Up 46.4 per cent (July 13 spike on news).

Investors weren't exactly piling into CHUM on takeover rumours before the big deal was announced. The day before the news of Bell Globemedia's acquisition of CHUM, a piddling 183 common shares changed hands (there was a bit more pre-news action in the Class B shares which traded 19,625 shares). It seems investors took CHUM chairman Jim Waters quite seriously when the communications guru said - following the death of his father, CHUM founder Allan Waters - that his family had no intention to sell the broadcasting company. Bell Globemedia, which is majority owned by BCE Inc., took CHUM out with an offer of $52.50 per common share ($47.25 per Class B share) in a $1.7-billion transaction.

* ACT IV: The Breakdown Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) $25.20 US Down 21.8 per cent (July 19 drop on earnings).

The only folks screaming Yahoo! on this earnings report were the shortsellers, who had a heyday as the stock endured its worst one-day percentage selloff ever. Although the Internet giant matched street estimates with second-quarter earnings of $164.3 million US (11 cents per share), it was the company's confession during the earnings conference that spooked the market. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company said it was experiencing an unexpected delay in rolling out a much-ballyhooed technology that is geared to boosting ad revenue. The selloff also caused major anxiety for technical analysts as the stock, which traded as high as $80 six years ago, crashed to a 52-week low. The stock is also down 37 per cent year to date.

* ACT V: The Earnings Doll Mattel Inc. (NYSE:MAT) $17.60 US Up 10.8 per cent (July 17 move on news).

It seems that Barbie has more clout than the analysts who cover Mattel. The No. 1 toymaker in the U.S. knocked the stuffing out of analyst forecasts with second-quarter earnings of $37.4 million US (10 cents per share) compared to a loss of $94 million (23 cents per share) in the year-ago period. Mattel's quarterly sales rose eight per cent to $957.7 million, largely on the back of sales of Barbie dolls that were up two per cent. The company also cited strong sales for new movie-related toys for the results, which turned the Thomson Financial analyst consensus forecast for earnings of four cents per share into playdough.

* ACT VI: The Biotech Blues ConjuChem Biotechnologies Inc.

(TSX:CJB) $1.25 Down 36.9 per cent (seven-day swoon on news).

In a biotech market where even good news is treated like bad news, bad news gets no mercy from investors. So when ConjuChem rocked the market by announcing it was suspending all testing of an experimental HIV drug after a patient died in Argentina, shares in the Montreal-based company promptly fell out of bed. ConjuChem said it was probing the cause of death and whether it was related to the drug being tested in clinical trials in patients with HIV lipodystrophy.

Shares in Conjuchem have been mostly in freefall since peaking at $15 two years ago.

* ACT VII: The Trust Bust Movie Distribution Inc. Fund (TSX:FLM.UN) $6.14 Down 27.8 per cent (two-day drop on news).

When the two lead actors in a play walk out, you can expect the audience to scurry for the exits. Well, that's about what happened to Movie Distribution, whose unitholders headed for the exits when the fund's chairman Victor Lowey and CEO Patrice Theroux resigned after the board determined a change was necessary. Unitholders do not take kindly to that sort of suspense. Former Famous Players CEO John Bailey, a director of Movie Distribution, was appointed interim CEO of the fund. Alliance Atlantis (TSX:AAC.B) said it was continuing to review its investment in the fund, which pays a monthly cash distribution of 9.58 cents per unit.

* ACT VIII: The Penny Jackpot DTI Dental Technologies Inc. (TSXV:DTI) $1.56 Up 119.7 per cent (one-week move on acquisition offer).

If you think false teeth and braces aren't sexy, check out the juicy premium paid in a takeover for DTI. Shareholders of this sleepy junior play were sporting broad smiles after being rewarded with an instant double when a New York-based private equity firm, Healthpoint Capital LLC, bid $24.3 million or $1.60 per share. Not surprisingly, DTI's board promptly recommended shareholders accept the offer. Vancouver-based DTI operates 16 dental labs in Canada and the U.S., specializing in false teeth and braces.

(Stock quotes based on prices through July 21 unless otherwise specified.)

(Gyle Konotopetz can be reached at gyle@businessedge.ca)