5 of Last Week's Biggest Winners

What's better than momentum? Mo' momentum.

Let's take a closer look at five of this past week's biggest scorchers.

Source: Barron's.

James River Coal was one of the prior week's biggest gainers, and it did it again last week. Coal producers have been moving higher as natural gas prices begin to awaken from their slumber. Natural gas has been a market darling lately, but as prices inch higher, coal begins to look more attractive.

Sify moved higher after checking in with encouraging financial results. The India-based provider of IT services saw revenue and earnings climb 13% and 18% higher, respectively.

Yongye moved higher after executives and some investment firms moved to take the company private at $6.60 a share. The stock is still trading at a healthy discount to that price, suggesting that the market isn't sold on the privatization efforts for the Chinese fertilizer company succeeding.

Cree came through with a better-than-expected quarterly report. The LED lighting specialist saw revenue climb 17% to $315.8 million for the period, checking in with double-digit net margins on the way to an adjusted profit of $0.27 a share. Needham boosted its price target on the shares to $32 after the report.

VirnetX moved higher as it approaches a federal district court trial with Apple later this month. An analyst at William Blair views a recent International Trade Commission decision as a positive development for patent-rich VirnetX.