15 Best Stocks in the Past Week: NIO and IBM Shares Climb
Stocks ended higher Friday to finish the week little changed as investors looked to strong economic data and discounted a report that said President Joe Biden would propose raising capital gains taxes on wealthy investors.
Equities received a boost from data that indicated U.S. business output expanded the most on record in April, according to IHS Markit. New home sales in the U.S., meanwhile, rebounded in March to the highest levels since 2006.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended up 228 points, or 0.7%, at 34,043. The S&P 500 rose 45.19, or 1.1%, to 4,180.70, missing a weekly gain by less than 6 points. The S&P 500 snapped a four-week win streak. The Nasdaq finished up 1.44% at 14,06.81.
Here are some of the best stocks in the past week by their performance in percentage change at the close of trading on Apr. 23. These include stocks over a $10 share price at the time of publishing.
1. MicroVision | +62.92%Jim Cramer, the founder of TheStreet, said this past week that MicroVision (MVIS) – Get Report is a battleground stock to avoid amind its surge. “This is a battleground stock and you need to avoid battlegrounds,” he said during the “Mad Money Lightning Round.”
MicroVision ‘is essentially a science project that has gone nowhere after 25 years,’ said short-seller Hindenburg Research in December. “$1.2 billion market cap corporate husk,” according to Hindenburg.
2. Equifax | +20.28%Equifax (EFX) – Get Report was jumping this past week after the credit-reporting company beat Wall Street’s first-quarter earnings expectations, reported record revenue, and raised its 2021 revenue guidance. Shares of the Atlanta company were surging nearly 15% to $221.19.
Equifax reported a net income of $201.6 million, or $1.64 a share, up from $116.9 million, or 95 cents a share, a year ago. Adjusted income attributable to Equifax was $1.97 a share, beating the FactSet consensus of $1.52.
3. Skillz Inc | +20.25%Skillz (SKLZ) – Get Report shares rose sharply this past week after Jefferies initiated coverage of the mobile gaming company with a hold rating and a $17 price target.
Jefferies analyst Andrew Uerkwitz offers high praise for Skillz but is concerned about the stock’s valuation. “We see Skillz building a differentiated, innovative platform for mobile gaming,” he wrote in a commentary.
4. Kansas City Southern | +17.13%Kansas City Southern (KSU) – Get Report will enter potential merger talks with Canadian National, according to a published report Friday, raising the stakes in a brewing bidding war between Canadian National (CNI) – Get Report and Canadian Pacific (CP) – Get Report for the U.S. railroad and its links to the gulf coast.
Kansas City Southern is expected to declare CN’s recent $30 billion takeover bid superior to its previously agreed $25 billion buyout offer from Canadian Pacific, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
5. Skechers | +15.80%Skechers USA (SKX) – Get Report soared this past week and Morgan Stanley upgraded the footwear maker after it reported stronger-than-expected earnings in the first quarter.
Morgan Stanley analyst Kimberly Greenberger lifted her rating to overweight from equal weight and boosted the price target on the stock to $56 from $44. She was impressed with the earnings and a “clearer” forecast of earnings before interest and taxes and earnings per share.
6. BioNTech | +14.16%Pfizer (PFE) – Get Report says it has discovered counterfeit versions of the COVID-19 vaccine being distributed in Mexico and Poland, a media report says.
The New York healthcare company confirmed in separate investigations that vials seized by authorities were fake versions of the vaccine Pfizer developed with BioNTech (BNTX) – Get Report, The Wall Street Journal reports. In Mexico, the vials came with fraudulent labeling and were likely filled with distilled water, Manuel de la O, health secretary of Nuevo León state, told the paper.
7. NIO | +13.83%NIO (NIO) – Get Report reported big gains in their first-quarter deliveries. The company said it delivered 20,060 vehicles in the first quarter, up a record 423% from a year ago. It delivered 7,257 vehicles in March, a new monthly record and up 373% year-over-year.
The Chinese electric vehicle maker was a volume leader this past week with 92,190,700 shares traded.
8. Bilibili Inc | +12.74%The U.S. listed shares of online streaming site Bilibili (BILI) – Get Report moved up even after the stock made a weak debut on its first day of trading in Hong Kong last month.
9. Vipshop Holdings | +11.68%Credit Suisse was shopping shares of Vipshop (VIPS) – Get Report in the wake of the Archegos Capital embarrassment.
10. Cloudflare | +11.42%Cloudflare (NET) – Get Report was among several of the companies that were ere losing ground this past week, including FuboTV (FUBO) – Get Report, which was down nearly 3%, Peloton Interactive (PTON) – Get Report, down 1.36%, Zoom Video Communication (ZM) – Get Report, down 1.5%, and Roku (ROKU) – Get Report, down 3.56% to $342.20 in premarket trading.
Cloudflare was down 1.23% but picked up steam at the market closing Friday. Some stay-at-home stocks traded lower after Netflix’s disappointing subscriber results.
11. Enphase Energy | +11.31%Shares of alternative energy stocks like FuelCell Energy (FCEL) – Get Report, SolarEdge Technologies (SEDG) – Get Report, Enphase Energy (ENPH,) – Get Report and others were rising on Earth Day as U.S. President Joe Biden kicked off a global climate summit.
The president invited 40 world leaders to the summit, hosted Thursday and Friday. The virtual summit was live-streamed for public viewing.
12. Restoration Hardware | +8.43%When talking about Williams-Sonoma (WSM) – Get Report in the “Mad Money Lightning Round” this past week, Cramer said: “I want you to hold onto it (Williams-Sonoma). I think Restoration Hardware (RH) – Get Report is also going to have another great quarter.”
13. Hubspot | +8.34%HubSpot (HUBS) – Get Report rose this past week after Bank of America analyst Brad Sills reinitiated coverage of the customer relationship management platform with a buy rating and a $600 price target.
Sills is positive on the company addressing a large market of marketing, sales, service, and CMS, with a total addressable market of more than $86.7 billion.
14. Intuitive Surg Inc | +7.75%Shares of Intuitive Surgical (ISRG) – Get Report were higher this past week after the medical equipment company’s first-quarter results topped estimates and analysts at Piper Sandler increased their price target. Analyst Adam Maeder affirmed a neutral rating on the company while lifting the investment firm’s price target to $840 a share from $735.
“Despite some lingering COVID-19 impact in the quarter, the company posted healthy mid-teens procedure growth and a better-than-expected quarter from a robot placement perspective driven in part by more operating leases,” Maeder said.
15. IBM | +6.62%International Business Machines’s (IBM) – Get Report Institute for Business Value (IBV) surveyed over 14,000 consumers in nine countries about how the COVID-19 pandemic affected their views on environmental sustainability. Nine in 10 consumers surveyed reported that it did affect their views, and COVID-19 was the top factor cited in influencing their views.
Intel (INTC) – Get Report plans to evolve into both a designer and manufacturer and next-generation computer and smartphone chips while also developing a new business — thanks in part to a development partnership with IBM — that allows other companies to use its Arizona hub to make their own semiconductors.
None of these stocks is a key holding in Jim Cramer’s Action Alerts PLUS charitable trust. Want to be alerted before Jim Cramer buys or sells any stock? Learn more from Cramer and his membership team now.