At the beginning of last week, we saw some tech stocks muscle their way to the top, and try to stay there. Did they succeed? Time will tell.
But in the meantime, here are some of the biggest gainers by the end of last week—including one that soared to a 52-week high.
Autodesk Soars Over 15%
Shares of digital design company Autodesk [ADSK] rose 15.3% to clinch their biggest high, to close at $157.20. Autodesk announced its quarterly results and reported revenue of $611.7 M, a rise of 22% year-over-year and $6 M above the company’s guidance of $606 million.
Autodesk’s adjusted earnings were $0.19 per share, easily beating analyst estimates of $0.16 and way more than earnings loss of $0.11 reported in the prior-year quarter. This earnings beat drove Autodesk’s stock higher.
Autodesk shares have been on a tear this year as they have risen close to 50% in 2018. Analysts continue to remain bullish on the stock and have raised their 12-month price target for Autodesk.
Investment banks such as J.P. Morgan [JPM], KeyBanc Capital Markets, Credit Suisse, Griffin Securities and Canaccord Genuity have all raised price targets on Autodesk. The company is still trading at a discount of 27% to its high analyst price target of $200.
Splunk Stock Rises On Earnings Beat
Shares of software and cloud solutions company Splunk [SPLK] rose 15% on August 24, to close at $123.69. Splunk announced its fiscal second-quarter 2019 results and reported revenue of $388.3 M, a stellar rise of 38.6% year-over-year.
Earnings per share were $0.08, 60% higher compared to analyst estimates of $0.05. Splunk signed over 550 new enterprise customers in Q2 and expanded relationships with Automated Data Processing [ADP], Southwestern Energy [SWN] as well as the US Department of Defense.
Splunk has benefitted from the ongoing digital transformation of enterprises. Analysts expect the company to experience robust revenue growth in fiscal 2019 where sales are expected to rise close to 30% year-over-year coupled with earnings growth of 71%.
Though the stock is trading close to its all-time high, analysts remain optimistic as 74% recommend a “buy” and 26% recommend a “hold”. There are no sell recommendations. Splunk shares have risen close to 50% this year.
AMD Continues Its Stellar Run As Stock Rises 7.6%
Shares of semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices [AMD] rose 7.6% on August 24, to close at $23.98. AMD’s stock rose as analysts became more optimistic about the firm’s market share gains post quarterly results in July.
While Intel [INTC] continues to struggle in the chip manufacturing process, analysts are betting on AMD to leverage this opportunity and gain market share.
Research firm Cowen expects AMD to win big in terms of business acquisition with cloud computing vendors. AMD’s price also rose 6.7% on August 23 as well after Rosenblatt Securities raised its price target from $27 to $30.
AMD’s stock has been a blockbuster investment as shares have risen significantly over the last few years. Shares rose close to 300% in 2016 and were range bound in 2017. However, the stock has risen by 133% in 2018.
AMD’s stock was trading at $2.87 at the end of 2015 and are expected to reach close to $30 over the next 12 months. With revenue growth estimated at 25% and earnings growth of 171% in 2018, AMD will most likely continue to outperform markets.
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