Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
The Dow Jones Industrials (^DJI 0.69%) couldn't quite overcome the downward pressure of two of its largest components today, closing down two points. But the stock market more broadly celebrated the resolution of the government's budget crisis, and many individual stocks posted very strong gains. Let's take a closer look at SanDisk (NASDAQ: SNDK), JinkoSolar Holding (JKS 4.86%), and Fortuna Silver Mines (FSM 3.79%) to find out why they did so well today.
SanDisk jumped almost 9% as the company reported solid third-quarter results that included better-than-expected revenue and earnings. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra pointed to its solid-state drive products as big drivers of growth for SanDisk, with its recent purchase of SMART Storage Systems helping to bolster SanDisk's presence in the increasingly important enterprise SSD market. Analysts piled on after the earnings announcement, sending SanDisk shares even higher as they noted strong demand for solid-state drives that could help boost its ability to increase share repurchases.
JinkoSolar Holding picked up almost 12% on a strong day for Chinese solar companies generally. An analyst upgrade from Credit Suisse helped send JinkoSolar in particular higher, as the analyst raised its price target on the stock by almost 45%. China's solar industry still faces plenty of challenges, but signs that the Chinese government is starting to recognize the need to allow the market to pick winners and losers could allow a long-awaited shakeout to occur, and investors clearly believe JinkoSolar would be one of the winners in that scenario.
Fortuna Silver Mines also climbed 12%, with a combination of factors helping the stock. Silver prices rose about 2.5% today, boosting shares throughout the industry. But Fortuna also raised its figures for proven and probable reserves and inferred resources for its San Jose mine in Mexico, boosting reserve estimates by 22% for silver and 27% for gold at the mine. Inferred resources climbed even further, with gains of 39% in silver and 27% in gold. The increase comes at a key time for Fortuna, as its shares have been weak overall in light of silver's weak performance over the past six months.
