This Week's 5 Smartest Stock Moves

Updated

If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Take my hand as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.

1. Cool beans
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
has a habit of moving higher after strong financial results, or whenever it gets cozy with Starbucks.

What happens when both things happen?


Shares of the company behind the Keurig single-serve brewing system soared 28% yesterday after the double dose of good news.

Yes, the financials were pretty impressive. Adjusted earnings soared 45%, and Green Mountain's boosting its fiscal year guidance sharply higher.

Yes, Starbucks is warming up to Green Mountain. The two companies announced an expanded partnership that will triple the number of Starbucks products available through Green Mountain's K-Cup and Keurig Vue portion packs through at least the next five years.

Green Mountain shares have now nearly quadrupled since bottoming out this past summer. That's some caffeinated kick.

2. Pop star
Green Mountain isn't the only beverage platform heating up. SodaStream also posted better-than-expected results, and juiced up its outlook.

Revenue climbed 34%, to $117.6 million, powered by strong stateside sales and a spike in consumables. In other words, the SodaStream starter kits that were gifted this past holiday season are actually being put to use. Earnings of $0.57 a share landed well ahead of the $0.54 a share that the pros were projecting.

SodaStream now sees revenue and earnings growth of 27% and 20%, respectively, for all of 2013 -- up 200 basis points on both fronts.

Remember when folks were saying that SodaStream was a fad a couple of years ago, even though it had been a hit throughout Europe for decades?

3. Baidu wants to show you something
Baidu
is one of the few fast-growing Internet companies trading closer to its 52-week low than its high, so maybe it can buy its way out of this lull.

China's leading online search engine is buying the PPS.tv's streaming video service in a roughly $370 million deal. Combine that with the majority stake in iQiyi that Baidu purchased late last year, and Baidu becomes a major player in China's video market.

This may not be a profitable niche these days, and margins will never be as thick as investors have enjoyed in Baidu's flagship search business. However, since video is a big part of the mobile experience -- and since Baidu's presently lacking in mobile -- this move will help the former dot-com darling generate a new revenue stream at a time when worrywarts are overly concerned about Baidu's share of the search market.

4. The electric slide
Investors were ready for Tesla Motors' first quarterly profit this week. It got more than that.

Shares of the trendy electric car maker soared 24% yesterday, after posting a quarterly profit of $0.12 a share, four times greater than what the market was projecting. Revenue of $562 million smoked the pros parked at $492 million.

The future is looking even brighter, as new orders are pouring in faster than Tesla can make the cars. The major car manufacturers aren't experiencing this welcome dilemma.

5. Facebook knows all about your mom
Facebook rolled out Facebook Gifts late last year, and now it's making the most of the social networking website's first Mother's Day holiday with an active e-commerce platform.

"Surprise Mom with a Gift," read the top of many Facebook news feeds this week if they have moms who are active on the website. If you weren't feeling guilty enough about still not buying your mother a present, the promo even features the profile picture of your mom.

Facebook has been doing some pretty neat things on the monetization front over the past year, and it's not all about mobile.

Five more smart moves
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The article This Week's 5 Smartest Stock Moves originally appeared on Fool.com.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz owns shares of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters and SodaStream. The Motley Fool recommends Baidu, Facebook, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, SodaStream, Starbucks, and Tesla Motors . The Motley Fool owns shares of Baidu, Facebook, SodaStream, Starbucks, and Tesla Motors . Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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