Last Week's Biggest Stock Movers

Plenty of stocks go up and down in any given week. The gainers inspire us to keep investing. The decliners keep greed in check while reminding us about the risks of the equity markets.
Let's go over some of last week's best and worst performers.

Angie's List (ANGI) -- Up 24 percent last week

Shareholders of Angie's List caught a rare break last week when London's Financial Times reported that the online service referral specialist was talking to bankers in preparation for putting itself up for sale. Angie's List is a premium Web-based platform where users pay to access vetted reviews and recommendations.

It continues to grow in popularity, with 2.8 million paid memberships, but that has come at the expense of profit-zapping expansion and marketing. Analysts don't see it turning an annual profit until next year. Even after last week's pop on the unconfirmed buyout chatter, the stock has shed more than two-thirds of its value since peaking last year.

Conn's (CONN) -- Up 14 percent last week

The struggling consumer electronics retailer moved higher after a beneficial owner continued to gobble up the stock. Luxor Capital Group purchased nearly 2 million shares last week in a transaction valued at $58.7 million. The hedge fund spent most of September building up its position, which now represents a 20.9 percent chunk of Conn's across Luxor's investing vehicles.

Consumer electronics has been a dreadful sector for investors this year, but clearly there's at least one major investor that sees this as a buying opportunity.

Sears Holdings (SHLD) -- Up 14 percent last week

The cash-strapped parent of Sears and Kmart has lined up financing to get it through this critical holiday shopping season. Sears will raise as much as $380 million in a rights offering for its Canadian Sears stores. Some are still skeptical. One analyst -- ISI Group -- warned that Sears Holdings could still run out of money by the middle of next year without additional asset sales or liquidity incentives.

Westport Innovations (WPRT) -- Down 34 percent last week

There was a time when Westport Innovations was a market darling. Its business of providing commercial fleets with engines that could use liquefied natural gas as a fuel source was going to revolutionize the marketplace. Well, things haven't been panning out.

Westport announced last week that it was lowering its forecast for 2014. It now sees another year of red ink on revenue of just $130 million to $140 million across its three operating subsidiaries. That's not going in the right direction after topping $155 million in each of the two previous years.

WebMD (WBMD) -- Down 14 percent last week

WebMD failed to wow investors at Wednesday's annual shareholder meeting. A day later the analysts at Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the stock -- exactly three months after upgrading WebMD. The firm is removing its previous price target of $52 on the stock.

WebMD is a popular source for folks trying to self-diagnose their symptoms, though doctors will often advise against relying solely on the Internet for answers. The downgrade comes at a time when WebMD is otherwise holding up well, with revenue and profitability climbing nicely, and it has surpassed Wall Street's bottom-line targets in each of the past three quarters.

FireEye (FEYE) -- Down 12 percent last week

One of last week's winning sectors was online security in light of another major data breach at one of the country's biggest banks. FireEye bucked the trend by heading lower, but that was because Northland Securities downgraded the stock. Northland Securities is lowering its price target from $34 to $25 after checking on industry resellers. It fears that the niche is getting too competitive.

Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Westport Innovations. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.To read about our favorite high-yielding dividend stocks for any investor, check out our free report.