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New product lines drove the big winners in last week's tech stock* movers in a variety of industries, from lighting and software to solar energy and social media.
Cree Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) was the biggest gainer with a 12.9% rise. The LED lighting company named Gregg Lowe as its president and CEO on Monday, effective Sept. 27. That and a new line of brighter LED bulbs was enough to encourage investors. The stock has been up and down over the last year, but a surge since August has put it within a dollar of its 52-week high. Shares closed the week at $28.19.
HubSpot Inc. (NYSE: HUBS) rode a 12.8% rise to an all-time high, closing the week at $84.05. The company introduced a new product line, HubSpot Customer Hub, to enhance its cloud-based marketing and sales software platform. The new launch is intended to improve the customer experience and help companies retain existing customers (which it says can be 25 times as cost-efficient as acquiring new customers). HUBS has been rising steadily since February of last year, when it was trading at less than 35% of its current price.
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Last week's tech disappointments start off with a big hit to solar...
First Solar Inc. (Nasdaq: FSLR) led the losers with a 10.8% drop. This follows a Sept. 22 decision by the U.S. International Trade Commission that means that a tariff could soon be placed on solar cells imported into the United States. This should be good news for First Solar, which manufactures cells, but this appears to be a case of "buy the rumor, sell the news." First Solar has been on the rise since April, when the case was first filed. Now that the decision is here, positive though it may be, some investors are apparently taking their profits. Even after the drop, FSLR is up more than 40% in 2017. Shares closed the week at $45.88.
Momo Inc. (Nasdaq: MOMO) dropped 10.4% for the week, part of a general downtrend since the stock hit an all-time high of $45.99 in August. The Chinese social media darling has been having a fantastic 2017 - MOMO is still up nearly 75% on the year. But investor sentiment has cooled since Momo's most recent quarterly report showed earnings per share at barely half what analysts expected. Shares closed the week at $31.34.
Tech Stocks to Watch This Week
Here are a couple tech stocks we're keeping an eye on for the coming week...
- Roku Inc. (Nasdaq: ROKU) had an eye-catching first two days after its Sept. 27 IPO, more than doubling in share price. Many are skeptical that the success can hold, especially in a year that's been particularly harsh on new IPO stocks.
- Applied Materials Inc. (Nasdaq: AMAT) was featured in Barron's on Sept. 30 as one of the "heroes of AI." The stock had already been on the rise over the last three days, so we'll watch what kind of bump the article provides.
We'll keep you updated if there's anything you need to know to make money on these moves.
*Stocks have a primary listing on a U.S. exchange, a market cap greater than $1 billion, and are in either the Technology Services or Electronic Technology sector. Data and analytics provided by FactSet.
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About the Author
Stephen Mack has been writing about economics and finance since 2011. He contributed material for the best-selling books Aftershock and The Aftershock Investor. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.
