The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEX: ^DJI) was up a slight 0.27%, but a few names didn't have such a quiet day. These were the three biggest winners:

Company

Price Change

Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ) 3.3%
Home Depot (NYSE: HD) 2%
Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) 1.4%

Hewlett-Packard is up big today despite posting weak earnings yesterday. The printer manufacturer raised its full-year outlook and announced that it decided to cut its global workforce by around 8% to save $3 billion to $3.5 billion. The company says it will spend much of that money on R&D, an area that the company had probably underinvested in under its prior mismanagement.

Home Depot rose even though chief competitor Lowe's (NYSE: LOW) posted same-store-sales growth of just 2.6% and lowered its earnings guidance. Housing may be near a bottom, and investors had expected a faster rebound out of Lowe's. Home Depot has been stealing market share and showing faster same-store-sales growth than its rival for some time now.

There wasn't any major news propelling Coca-Cola's stock, but after rising 1.4%, shares of Coke now trade for 20 times earnings, the sixth highest in the Dow. I'm not concerned about its valuation, though. The soda giant generates impressive margins and has managed impressive emerging-market growth -- some 65% over the past half-decade.

HP, Home Depot, and Coke all beat the market today. If you're looking for some other intriguing stock ideas, The Motley Fool's chief investment officer picked his top stock for the year -- it's a company that is revolutionizing commerce in rapidly developing Latin American economies. For a limited time, you can get instant access to the name of this company and a special report for free by for free.