Pandora Surges, Home Depot Drives Dow to New High
Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied to a fourth straight day of gains, ending higher for a sixth week in a row. Despite industrial production numbers coming in lower than expected today, the stock market still stubbornly advanced, as Wall Street applauded Janet Yellen's comments in favor of quantitative easing before the Senate yesterday. The Dow tacked on 85 points, or 0.5%, to end at 15,961.
Home Depot stock ended toward the top of the Dow for a fourth straight session, adding 1.4% to head into the weekend. Home Depot reports quarterly earnings next Tuesday, so investors are hoping the rebound in the real estate market will continue to buoy the stock. Last quarter saw rival Lowe's start closing the gap with Home Depot on same-store sales growth, though Home Depot's 11.4% growth still trumped the 9.6% Lowe's was able to muster.
Outside of the Dow, Dangdang surged 10.2%, its second 10% jump of the week. Yesterday, the company posted quarterly earnings, and Wall Street cheered the results, despite a net loss and sub-20% revenue growth. The hope for Dangdang is that third-party vendors will account for a bigger and bigger portion of the site's business, and yesterday's data showed that hope coming to fruition. Third-party sales nearly tripled in the most recent period, but those sales still accounted for less than 5% of overall revenue. I wouldn't bet on Dangdang until the company can actually turn a profit and churn out some more impressive overall sales growth.
Finally, shares of music streaming service Pandora jumped 7.1%. Pandora's pop today was essentially driven by a sudden boost in popularity on Wall Street. JP Morgan boosted the price target on its shares from $25 to $35, just two days after Needham upped its target from $25 to $33 per share. SEC filings also revealed that a number of highbrow hedge funds took positions in Pandora last quarter, despite the fact that the company has yet to turn a profit.
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The article Pandora Surges, Home Depot Drives Dow to New High originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor John Divine has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter @divinebizkid and on Motley Fool CAPS @TMFDivine.The Motley Fool recommends Home Depot and Pandora Media and owns shares of JPMorgan Chase. 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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