Some stocks are one-hit wonders, making a big splash when they first appear, then quickly fizzling into obscurity or oblivion. But for other stocks, that initial big move is only a preview for even bigger and better gains to come.
Today, we've compiled 10 stocks that made some of the biggest upward moves over the past month. We'll then pair that list with the ratings issued by our Motley Fool CAPS community. The higher each stock's rating, the greater CAPS members' faith in that company's ability to keep on beating the market.
Stock |
30-Day % Change |
CAPS Rating (out of 5) |
---|---|---|
Dendreon |
385.6% |
** |
Sealy |
185.3% |
* |
Borders Group |
151.6% |
** |
Saks |
134.8% |
** |
Lloyds TSB |
131.2% |
*** |
Apollo Investment |
124.4% |
**** |
RF Micro Devices |
121.6% |
***** |
MGIC Investment |
111.8% |
* |
Barclays |
104.1% |
*** |
Macerich |
100% |
* |
Source: Motley Fool CAPS. Change from March 20 to April 20.
With only two of the stocks carrying four-star ratings or above, let's see why the CAPS community thinks any of these might outperform the market.
A mighty temblor
In the vein of Japanese horror films "One Missed Call" and "Pulse," mobile handset chipmaker RF Micro Devices has pretty much been a horror story showing up regularly on the stock market's dollar menu marquee. All that's missing is a creepy dead girl with wild hair extensions walking like a crab.
It's not necessarily all the chipmaker's fault that shares are off 45% from its 52-week high -- even after the stock has more than doubled over the past month. Industry leader Nokia
To cut costs, RF Micro is slashing jobs. It announced last month that it was cutting 100 positions, or 2% of its workforce, which it hopes will save between $12 million and $15 million. Of course, that's nothing compared to the splatter-fest Marvell Technology is directing. Marvell announced plans to gut its workforce by 15% as revenues tumbled 39% last quarter and it suffered a $65 million loss. Nevertheless, it's clear RF Micro has been feeling the recession.
Yet in a reanimation that would make zombie maven George Romero proud, RF Micro has risen from the dead over the past month. It's not brains the chipmaker's after but margin expansion. It reduced inventories as the economy declined, but said it saw sales picking up again toward the end of the quarter. That would seem to be in line with other analysts who say the economy may have seen the worst of it and now we should be doing the zombie stagger forward.
That's the position CAPS member vthotncold took earlier this month, when he pointed out that as the realization dawns on the market that things won't be getting worse, RF Micro will enjoy a resurgence.
Motley rules did not allow this stock to be on my list but I have had it picked since it dropped. it has lots of legs and good folks and products. As we see teh economy realize it is not all that bad this stock is going to go up even more than it has.
We shouldn't fear our cell phones ringing. It won't be an otherworldly call we're receiving, but just a holler back from RF Micro saying it's returned to the land of the living.
Shake, rattle, and roll
With these shaking the market this past month it pays to start your own research on them at Motley Fool CAPS. Read a company's financial reports, scrutinize key data and charts, and examine the comments your fellow investors have made all from a stock's CAPS page.