3 Tech Stocks That Soared This Week
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Transcript of 3 Tech Stocks That Soared This Week
3 Tech Stocks That
Soared This Week
These 3 tech tickers beat the market, June 16 – June 20
Fuel cell power systems builder Plug Power gained 17% in 5 days.
Image source: Plug Power.
The big move:
Plug Power shares actually jumped 18% on Wednesday alone.
The rest of the week was kind of a wash.
But why did the stock jump, mid-week? • The entire fuel cell industry soared on
Wednesday – not just Plug Power.
• Analyst firm Jennings Capital started coverage on Plug Power supplier Ballard Power Systems.
• Jennings tagged Ballard with a “buy” rating and a $4 price target. That stock traded at $3.50 at the time.
• Of course, Ballard shares immediately rose above Jennings’ price target, but major Ballard customer Plug Power jumped even higher.
Plug Power jumps and drops easily • Last week, Plug Power was on my list of the tech sector’s biggest
crashes. This time, it’s up on the biggest winners rundown.
• The stock is up 210% year-to-date and a staggering 1,042% over the last year.
• It’s also down 59% from yearly highs that were set in March.
• Plug Power shares are a day trader’s plaything at this point. Share prices can double or drop by half in a couple of weeks – and there’s no telling which way it’s going next.
• If fuel cells hit the mainstream, Plug Power will make you rich in the long run.
• If not, you may very well lose your entire Plug Power investment.
The big Plug Power takeaway:
Be careful out there!
Image source: Plug Power.
Smartphone maker BlackBerry jumped 24%.
BlackBerry’s catalyst: • BlackBerry’s rocket fuel? A classic beat-and-raise first-quarter
earnings report.
• The Canadian company is hardly selling any smartphones these days, but makes up for that problem with software sales and cost-cutting.
• BlackBerry hopes to report breakeven cash flows in the recently started 2015 fiscal year.
• CEO John Chen’s turnaround plan is working, but there’s much work left to do.
Finally, Nuance Communications gained 14%. The big push happened on Monday.
What happened on Monday?
• The huge spike came from a Wall Street Journal article, published near noon.
• Citing anonymous insiders, the WSJ said that Nuance is talking to potential buyout partners.
• Samsung might buy the speech recognition software expert, or private equity firms might pick it up.
The Apple factor
• Samsung buying Nuance would be uncomfortable for Apple, which uses Nuance software in its popular Siri voice assistant feature.
• Apple and Samsung are locking horns in courtrooms across the world, fighting billion-dollar battles over smartphone patents.
• Making Apple depend on yet another Samsung-owned technology against that backdrop? Awkward.
• That being said, rumor has it that there’s a ceasefire in the works. If so, Samsung owning Siri’s brain would be just another, totally normal, business relationship.
The man behind the curtain • Selling Nuance to the highest bidder would hardly be a shock.
• Consider that corporate raider Carl Icahn owns 19% of
Nuance’s shares, making him the company’s largest shareholder.
• Icahn builds large stakes like this one to force big changes. Looking for a buyout exit is one of his favorite tactics.
• So the Icahn factor plays in favor of a real buyout deal right now.
• However, Nuance has neither confirmed nor denied any of this. Until further notice, Nuance shares are riding about 14% higher on a plausible rumor.
Apple hopes to sell millions of iWatches…
but not without this small-cap components supplier.