Monday brought yet another record close for the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.99%), making it seven days out of the last eight that investors have seen the index reach new heights. Even as the broader market was flat to down, the Nasdaq gained almost a full percent to start out the week.
Investors have paid a lot of attention to Apple (AAPL 5.98%) and Tesla (TSLA 0.66%) recently, because their stock-split announcements have gotten short-term traders interested in the two rising stars. Both of those stocks climbed yet again on Monday, but they weren't the only contributors to the Nasdaq's record run. In addition, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 3.04%) and Zoom Video Communications (ZM -1.61%) posted strong gains and arguably have further to climb than either Tesla or Apple in their respective futures.
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Chipping away
Advanced Micro Devices' stock was up more than 6% late in the trading session on Monday. Investors continued to push the chipmaker's shares to record heights on newfound strength and competitive advantages over some of its biggest rivals.
It's hard to believe that it was less than five years ago that AMD was a $2 stock. The semiconductor company had fought a long battle with Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) in the PC processor market and with NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) in graphics chips, and AMD had struggled to gain traction in either of its key markets.
However, that all started to change recently. As Intel has had problems upgrading to 7-nanometer chip architecture, AMD has jumped ahead of its longtime arch rival. Moreover, new integrated graphics chips are giving NVIDIA a run for its money.
The pace of digital transformation is accelerating, and companies need all the technological power they can get. That's good news for AMD, and it could continue to lift its stock price as long as investors remain convinced that growth isn't fully priced into the semiconductor stock's shares.
Zoom-zoom
Zoom Video Communications also hit new all-time highs, rising 6%. Investors are watching closely as the video collaboration specialist is set to announce its latest earnings results after the market closes on Monday.
Zoom's recent growth has been amazing. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced hundreds of millions of people around the world to resort to video conferencing rather than in-person meetings for much of 2020, and Zoom has become the go-to provider of services for private businesses, public-sector government communications, and a host of other applications.
The question is whether Zoom's accelerated sales gains are already adequately accounted for in the stock's moves up until now. Zoom's share price has tripled since March, and it's up nearly fivefold from December's level. Yet the company has unquestionably risen to the occasion.
Investors will know a lot more about Zoom after they see its second-quarter numbers. Given what we've seen from other red-hot tech companies, today's gains could be just the beginning if shareholders get the news they're hoping for.
