Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
As bad as Monday was for stocks, today provided the typical turnaround. The market bounced higher on strength in the tech sector, and reasonably good bank earnings helped lift stocks to reverse much of their losses from yesterday's session. Even as the broader market posted gains of 1% or more, Intuitive Surgical (ISRG -0.29%), Jabil Circuit (JBL -1.34%), and Tesla Motors (TSLA 4.85%) saw even more substantial increases in their share prices.
Intuitive Surgical rose 7% after delivering better news in its preliminary results for the fourth quarter than investors had expected to see. Even though revenue declined about 5% to $576 million for the quarter, a rise in revenue from instruments and accessories points to solid growth in the number of procedures using the da Vinci surgical system. Even though system sales were down for the quarter, service revenue was seen increasing by 14%, helping to minimize the overall sales drop. Even though the company still faces an uphill battle in light of ongoing concerns about the safety of its robotic surgical system and worries about cost-consciousness deterring future system sales, Intuitive Surgical looks like it might finally be turning the corner.
Jabil Circuit climbed 8% after analysts at Goldman Sachs put the electronics manufacturer on its conviction-buy list. Jabil in particular has been hurt badly by the failure of BlackBerry (BB -2.61%) to find a lasting recovery in its business, resulting in Jabil's shares having taken a big hit. But Goldman believes that generally strong conditions in the electronic-device space should lead to more business for Jabil, and given the company's relatively attractive valuation, shareholders could benefit to a greater than average extent from any uptick in Jabil's business.
Tesla Motors jumped almost 16% after announcing solid performance in its fourth quarter, with the automaker having delivered 6,900 vehicles during the period. Even though the company said it would have to replace 29,000 of its charging devices, Tesla also said that it hopes to begin delivering limited quantities of its Model X SUV model later this year. The boost in its share price came as a welcome reversal after some challenging times since November.
