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.

Mindspeed Technologies soared after juicing up its fourth-quarter revenue forecast. The chip maker is seeing healthy demand for its analog and VoIP products along with stability in its landline business.

OfficeMax rose on buzz that its largest rival may be taken private. OfficeMax also finalized the extinguishment of non-recourse debt tied to Lehman Brothers.

First Solar brightened for investors. Watching oil spike higher on the Fed's stimulus package news was enough to get investors excited about the prospects for solar energy, but established companies in the niche also got a boost as House Republicans passed a bill phasing out the Solyndra-esque federal loan guarantees that would've aided potential First Solar competitors.

There was no company-specific news to boost Stillwater Mining 20% higher last week, but the palladium producer benefited from the upbeat sentiment for the niche after a spike in commodity prices.

Finally, we have James River Coal moving higher after an analyst's encouraging outlook for the depressed coal mining industry. Sterne Agee believes that coal prices will improve through the next two years as improving demand coincides with production cuts.

More winners for you
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.

Also, if you're looking for our recommendation on how to play First Solar, along with continuing updates and guidance on the company whenever news breaks, we've created a premium report that details every must-know side of this stock. To get started, just click here now.

The article 5 of Last Week's Biggest Winners originally appeared on Fool.com.

The Motley Fool has adisclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe thatconsidering a diverse range of insightsmakes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter servicesfree for 30 days.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.

Copyright © 1995 - 2012 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.