Tuesday was another good day for the stock market, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -2.05%) cracked through a key milestone, rising above 15,000 for the first time. As of 10:45 a.m. EDT, the Nasdaq was up more than half a percent, putting in a stronger performance than most of its fellow stock market benchmarks.
Two stocks stood out in Tuesday morning's advance. In the software-as-a-service area, CrowdStrike Holdings (CRWD -3.90%) has put up amazing numbers, and it got full recognition for its efforts by an influential institution. Meanwhile, Airbnb (ABNB -3.18%) made a gesture of goodwill that has investors celebrating. Below, we'll look more closely at both companies.
CrowdStrike gets an invitation
Shares of CrowdStrike Holdings jumped more than 8% on Tuesday morning. The cybersecurity specialist has made its long-term shareholders wealthy, and the company is now set to join an elite group of successful companies.
The company that oversees the various Nasdaq indexes announced that it will make CrowdStrike a component of the Nasdaq-100 index. The vacancy came about as a result of the acquisition of Maxim Integrated Products by Analog Devices, both of which were among stocks in the elite group of 100.
CrowdStrike will also join two other lesser-known indexes. The Nasdaq-100 Equal Weighted Index aims to avoid the distortions that result from the biggest Nasdaq companies having disproportionately large market capitalizations. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq-100 Technology Index focuses squarely on companies in the tech sector.
Hundreds of billions of dollars track the Nasdaq-100, so getting added to the index often results in massive buying of shares from institutional investors. That's what's sending the stock still higher on Tuesday, but it's just the cherry on top of a multibagger performance from CrowdStrike in just the past couple of years.
Image source: Getty Images.
Airbnb gives back
Elsewhere, shares of Airbnb were up more than 7%. The vacation rental website has gotten some mixed reviews lately, but Airbnb decided to step in and help handle a crisis situation.
Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky said in a tweet Tuesday morning that Airbnb would begin housing 20,000 refugees from Afghanistan across the globe at no charge. The company will work closely with partner relief organizations, non-governmental entities, and its own Airbnb.org charitable nonprofit to figure out the best way to handle the situation from a logistical standpoint.
Chesky asked for Airbnb hosts willing to offer accommodations to these refugee families. Even with Airbnb footing the bill, the company's business model relies on strong relations with its hosts.
Even with this gesture, Airbnb still got some criticism from those wondering why the company hasn't stepped up to a greater extent to provide support to the large U.S. population of homeless people. Nevertheless, the fact that Airbnb is trying to respond to the Afghan crisis indicates that the accommodation specialist is aware that it needs to take steps to improve its reputation and give back to the global community it serves.
