2 of Wednesday's Big Stock Winners Could Have Further to Rise

Wednesday brought more volatility to Wall Street, as substantial early gains for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.49%), S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.02%), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 1.41%) gave way to worries after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and the Federal Open Market Committee made their latest pronouncement on interest rates. Although the central bank didn't make any immediate moves, Powell said in no uncertain terms that investors needed to be prepared for a rate hike in March.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

Yet even with the downdraft, many stocks held onto gains, including a couple of particularly interesting companies. Corning (GLW 0.24%) announced earnings results that gave investors something to smile about, while Groupon (GRPN 13.26%) rose on reports concerning one of its investments. You'll find more details below.

Corning has a shiny quarter

Shares of Corning rose more than 11% on Wednesday. The glassmaker turned technology specialist reported extremely strong results in its fourth-quarter financial report that left shareholders hoping for even better times in 2022.

Image source: Getty Images.

Fourth-quarter numbers continued Corning's impressive run. Core sales of $3.7 billion were up 12% year over year. Adjusted earnings of $0.54 per share came in ahead of expectations. The company said that its optical communications, display, and life sciences businesses were the biggest contributors to its performance, along with its Hemlock Semiconductor Group unit.

Numbers for the full 2021 year were even more impressive. Sales gains amounted to 23%, and adjusted earnings of $2.07 per share were strong. What was especially noteworthy was that the company managed to overcome below-normal levels of automotive production and inflationary headwinds to keep its business moving in the right direction.

Corning also gave good guidance for the future, including calls for sales of $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion and adjusted earnings of $0.48 to $0.53 per share for the first quarter of 2022. With CEO Wendell Weeks looking to improve margin while continuing to return capital to shareholders through higher dividends and stock buybacks, Corning has a lot to offer for those seeking to mix the innovation of technology with the cyclicality of an industrial company.

Will Groupon get paid?

Shares of Groupon did even better, rising 20% in the regular trading session. A report concerning the pioneer in daily deals and an investment it has owned for nearly a decade benefited the stock.

Groupon has a stake in privately held SumUp, a U.K. player in the electronic payments space. Reports suggested that SumUp might look to raise more capital in a financing round that would seek a valuation of 20 billion euros ($22.6 billion) for the European fintech. A previous research note from a stock analyst stated that Groupon's interest in the company amounts to roughly 5%, which would suggest a value of roughly $1.13 billion.

Even after today's gains, though, Groupon's market capitalization is less than $800 million. Moreover, that doesn't include positive net cash after considering short-term borrowings and long-term debt.

Of course, Groupon can't count on being able to liquidate its interest in SumUp at the indicated price even if the report turns out to be true. Nevertheless, it's a company that has faced its share of struggles over the years, and Groupon investors are ready to take whatever break they can get -- and a successful financing round could keep Groupon's stock moving higher.