5 of Last Week's Biggest Winners

What's better than momentum? Mo' momentum. Let's take a closer look at five of this past week's biggest scorchers.

Source: Barron's.

Idenix was the market's biggest loser, more than doubling on buyout speculation. This is the kind of buzz that rarely moves a stock this high, but major pharmaceuticals, fearing patent expirations for their aging blockbusters, have been scooping up promising biotechs at a feverish pace lately. Idenix -- as a result of its potentially huge hepatitis-C treatment -- is one of the more compelling biotechs still single.

There was no speculation behind Georgia Gulf's 53% spike. There was a hostile takeover bid made on the company. The $1.03 billion offer may not be enough, given the way the stock zoomed past the $30-a-share buyout price. This should be an interesting story to watch in the coming days.

Trina Solar and Suntech Power took off along with many of their solar-energy peers. The volatile sector was slammed in 2011, but it's off to a strong start in 2012 on the hopes that global turmoil subsides and countries begin dedicating themselves to clean energy initiatives.

Finally we have Quepasa starting to happen for bulls after a brutal 2011. The parent company of myYearbook and the smaller namesake Spanish-language social site hired a new communications and public-relations chief. Quepasa also announced that it will make a presentation at the BOCEMb 2012-Noble Financial Capital Markets' Eight Annual Equity Conference this Wednesday.

It was a great week for these five stocks. If you want to get an early read on some of tomorrow's major gainers, there's a special report on three hidden winners in a booming industry. The report is free -- like this article -- but it won't be around forever, so check it out now.

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