Stock Market Today: Why Netflix, First Solar, and CDW Are on the Move

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

We should see a positive start to trading in the stock market today. The Dow Jones Industrial Average will gain a solid 53 points at the opening bell, according to index futures as of 7:35 a.m. EDT.

Investors get an update on the strength of the manufacturing sector this morning, when the Institute for Supply Management releases its national report at 10 a.m. EDT. The report is expected to show that activity expanded for the fifth consecutive month in October.

With those broader trends in mind, here are three individual stocks to keep an eye on in today's market.

First Solar shares are actively trading this morning after the company last night announced record quarterly sales of $1.3 billion and a near-doubling of profit to $1.94 a share. It also made some important tweaks to its full-year guidance, including scaling back the revenue forecast by about 10%. However, lower module-manufacturing costs are pushing gross margin up, leading the company to boost its earnings-per-share guidance significantly. First Solar now sees earnings coming in at about $4.38 a share this year, versus the $4 it previously expected. The stock is up more than 9% in premarket trading.

Netflix shares continue to find buyers even as they approach all-time highs. The company caught an upgrade this morning from an analyst at Baird who thinks shares could hit $420 in the next year. Netflix last night debuted the first four seasons of Dexter on its service, and the program, being one of Showtime's biggest hits, is sure to become a popular streaming option. That's good news for Netflix, as it will need a lot of popular content in order to avoid slowing subscriber growth in its U.S. market. The stock is up 2.6% in premarket trading.

Finally, CDW this morning reported quarterly profit of $0.50 a share on $2.9 billion in revenue. Analysts had expected the company to earn $0.47 on slightly lower revenue. The tech solutions provider saw climbing sales to its business and K-12 education customers, which more than offset falling sales to federal-government and health care clients. CDW also announced its first dividend as a newly public company, of $0.04 a share. The stock is unchanged in premarket trading.

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The article Stock Market Today: Why Netflix, First Solar, and CDW Are on the Move originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Demitrios Kalogeropoulos owns shares of Netflix. The Motley Fool recommends Netflix. The Motley Fool owns shares of Netflix. 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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