Saturday, February 23, 2013

Friday’s biggest gaining and declining stocks

A previous version of this story incorrectly identified Gap as the operator of the Zara clothing chain. Spain�s Inditex operates Zara. The story has been corrected.

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) � Shares of Monster Beverage Corp. and Gap Inc. advanced on Friday, while Herbalife Inc. took the spotlight again in the Battle of the Titans.

Gainers Click to Play What is the 'Great Rotation'?

Is the �Great Rotation� overhyped? Maybe. Steven Russolillo joins Markets Hub. Photo: Getty Images

Shares of Best Buy Inc. BBY rose for a second day, advancing 7.4%, following reports that founder Richard Schulze may abandon his plan to take over the retailer due to inability to secure financing.

Gap GPS shares recovered after three days of losses to rise almost 5%. The spike appeared to be driven by speculation, with some suggesting Japan�s Uniqlo may buy out the retailer. It isn�t clear what set off the speculation, but The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported that Uniqlo is aggressively expanding in Asia to catch up with rivals such as Gap and Inditex ES:ITX , which operates the Zara chain. See: Uniqlo stores to open in Indonesia

MeadWestvaco Corp. MWV shares rallied 13%. The packaging company�s stock has advanced for four sessions in a row and is up 30% over the past 12 months.

Shares of Monster Beverage MNST climbed 7.1% as speculation about a potential takeover resurfaced with Coca-Cola Co. KO being mentioned as a possible suitor. Read: The Motley Fool�s take on Monster�s buyout talk

Qlik Technologies Inc. QLIK shares jumped 18%. The enterprise-software vendor reported a fall in fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday but gave upbeat 2013 guidance.

Xoom XOOM soared 59% on its debut on the market. The San Francisco-based online money-transfer-services company closed out its first day of trading at $25.49 a share, sharply above the IPO price of $16. See: Xoom prices IPO at above expectations

Decliners

Shares of Agilent Technologies Inc. A �fell 5.2%, the biggest laggard on the S&P 500 SPX . The company reported a 22% drop in fiscal first-quarter profit Thursday on revenue declines and lowered guidance.

LogMeIn Inc. LOGM shares tanked 30%. The information-technology company was downgraded to perform from outperform by Oppenheimer. It released earnings on Thursday, offering guidance that missed analyst expectations for the first quarter and the year.

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/conga/story/misc/investing.html249848 Top Tickers Trending

$WMT: Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT , a Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA component, closed 2.2% lower on a report that one of its vice presidents described sales in February as a �total disaster� in a confidential memo. See: Wal-Mart sales �total disaster�

@PattyEdwards: Pretty sure that there�s a big game of Whacka Mole going on at $WMT HQ right now

$HLF: Shares of Herbalife Ltd. HLF pared earlier gains to close up 1.2%. Activist investor Carl Icahn disclosed late Thursday he had taken a 12.98% stake in the company. Icahn said he plans to discuss strategic alternatives with the nutritional-supplement company, which attracted attention when hedge-fund manager William Ackman of Pershing Square accused it of being a pyramid scheme and shorted the stock. See: Icahn says nothing personal on Herbalife

$MHP: Shares of McGraw-Hill Cos. MHP edged up 0.2%. On Thursday, Moody�s Investors Service lowered McGraw-Hill�s rating to Baa2 � barely above junk status � from A3, citing heightened litigation risks. Last week, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit against S&P alleging it lacked objectivity in its handling of certain collateralized debt obligations in 2007. �The negative rating outlook reflects the potential for additional adverse litigation and regulatory developments and the resulting uncertainty created for McGraw-Hill�s operations and financial position,� Moody�s said in a statement. See: Moody�s downgrades rival S&P

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