5 of Last Week's Biggest Winners

Updated

What's better than momentum? Mo' momentum.

Let's take a closer look at five of this past week's biggest scorchers.

Company

Jan. 27

Weekly Gain

My Watchlist

Illumina (NAS: ILMN)

$51.69

42%

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Quepasa (ASE: QPSA)

$4.90

43%

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Sequans (NYS: SQNS)

$3.80

36%

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RealNetworks (NAS: RNWK)

$10.01

35%

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Arctic Cat (NAS: ACAT)

$30.65

32%

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Source: Barron's.

Illumina surged after Roche approached the biotech with a sweetened hostile buyout bid. Roche is now asking shareholders to tender their shares at $44.50 -- though watching the stock move even higher than that will mean that Roche will have to go even higher if it really wants Illumina.

Quepasa shares gained 43% on the week, with most of that coming on Friday afternoon after news broke on Facebook's upcoming IPO. Even though Facebook is obviously in a class of its own -- and Quepasa's business is now more based around myYearbook than its fledgling namesake social-networking site for Hispanics -- Quepasa's thin float makes it a volatile stock that moves quickly up or down.

Sequans moved higher after an investment newsletter sang the praises of the French provider of 4G baseband chips. It also didn't hurt that a rival smartphone chip maker -- while posting disappointing results overall -- saw strength in its mobile business.

RealNetworks saw its stock soar 35% after agreeing to sell 190 patents and 170 patent applications to Intel in a $120 million deal.

Finally, we have Arctic Cat clocking in as one cool cat. The maker of snowmobiles and ATVs posted blowout quarterly results, with revenue and earnings soaring 36% and 84%, respectively.

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.

At the time thisarticle was published The Motley Fool owns shares of Intel.Motley Fool newsletter serviceshave recommended buying shares of Intel and Illumina. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy.Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz calls them as he sees them. He does not own shares in any of the stocks in this story. Rick is also part of theRule Breakersnewsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.

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