Wall Street got off to a strong start on Monday, as major market benchmarks all managed to post significant gains. The rise in the Nasdaq Composite was the largest at more than 1%, but the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average also managed to weigh in with respectable performances.
|
Index |
Percentage Change |
Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.15%) |
0.32% |
103 |
|
S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.11%) |
0.70% |
27 |
|
Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.09%) |
1.23% |
162 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Investors are focusing their attention on high-growth stocks, especially stocks they believe can rebound from the recent shellacking the growth sector endured during the second half of February. Two of today's top gainers show plenty of promise, and they're starting to get the backing of professional stock analysts as well. Both Upstart Holdings (UPST 0.13%) and Digital Turbine (APPS -1.80%) posted double-digit percentage gains on Monday, but they could have a lot further to run if they remain as successful as they've been to date.
Just getting started
Shares of Upstart Holdings finished the day up another 32%. That added to massive gains last week that included a nearly 90% move higher on Thursday and another 9% on Friday. Add all that together, and the stock is trading up more than 170% in just the past three days.
Image source: Getty Images.
The fun for Upstart shareholders began when the artificial intelligence-powered lending platform provider announced huge gains in lending volume, revenue, and earnings. Upstart also predicted that its revenue would at least double in the coming year, and it announced an acquisition that will help it make a bigger presence in the auto lending space.
Wall Street analysts have had a chance to look more closely at Upstart's results, and they apparently like what they see. At Barclays, analysts boosted their price target on the stock by $42 per share to $110. Barclays was pleased about the fact that Upstart is making money, and it sees the upbeat guidance as saying good things about the lender going forward.
Just about the only negative was that Barclays didn't see fit to change its rating on Upstart from its current call of equal weight. However, in many investors' eyes, Upstart is just getting started as it aims to deliver a superior lending experience to customers eager to spend money again.
Revving its engines
Elsewhere, Digital Turbine's shares were up more than 10%. The advertising technology company made another acquisition in an effort to bolster its growth.
Digital Turbine will acquire Fyber, a German company providing a mobile advertising monetization platform. The $600 million deal will give Digital Turbine access to Fiber's network of more than 180 programmatic demand partners, with a viewership that includes 650 million unique monthly active users across more than 180 different countries around the world.
The move is consistent with Digital Turbine's broader strategy to offer clients comprehensive media and advertising services with a desirable mobile experience for users. Fyber provides another missing piece of the puzzle for Digital Turbine as it aims to create a true end-to-end solution to help clients turn brand awareness into sales.
Investors have liked Digital Turbine's acquisition-fired growth strategy, having previously bid up the stock price on past strategic purchases. There's often a limit to how much a company can grow through acquisitions before it hits a wall, but Digital Turbine shows no signs of stalling out anytime soon.
