Hot Stocks of the Week: GM, RIM
NEW YORK --General Motors Corp. rose this week on different bits of good news, while Research In Motion Ltd. capped the week with a Friday runup stemming from a stellar first-quarter report and robust outlook.
GM shares jumped 2.3 percent Monday, while volume accelerated to about 1.7 times its usual level.
A Goldman Sachs analyst upgraded the automaker, saying the company could win better-than-expected labor cost concessions during union negotiations.
The struggling company, which is coping with high labor costs amid a downturn in sales, is renegotiating a contract with the United Auto Workers Union this year.
Shares rose modestly Tuesday, while volume slowed. But the stock jumped another 2.9 percent Wednesday after a Commerce Department report on durable goods orders said orders for motor vehicles rose by 2.3 percent in May, after a 2.8 percent drop in April.
Investors on Thursday pushed shares up another 2 percent, after GM said it would sell its Allison Transmission business to Canadian company Onex Corp. and private equity firm the Carlyle Group for $5.6 billion. Volume raced to about twice its typical level.
On Friday, shares fell 35 cents to $37.80 on higher-than-normal volume.
Shares of GM ended the week up 6.6 percent from a June 22 close at $35.46.
Chemicals maker Huntsman Corp. jumped into the spotlight Tuesday, after the company said it agreed to sell itself to U.S. industrialist Len Blavatnik's Access Industries for $5.6 billion.
Trading volume surged to 24 million shares changing hands, from a usual trading volume of 1.3 million.
The offer, for $25.25 per share in cash, represents a 34 percent premium over the company's Monday closing stock price of $18.90. Shares on Tuesday rose toward the offer price, closing at $24.26.
Shares hovered near that price for the rest of the week. While volume slowed, it still remained higher than usual on Wednesday and Thursday.
Shares ended Friday at $24.31, or up 29 percent since the Tuesday news.
Nike Inc. shares enjoyed a 8.3 percent rise Wednesday, after the sneaker and athletic apparel maker late Tuesday posted higher fiscal fourth-quarter earnings and strong future orders.
Trading volume jumped to about four times its usual level, but slowed on Thursday and Friday. The share price remained mostly unchanged following the runup.
Nike shares ended up 8.3 percent following the Wednesday surge, closing Friday at $58.29.
On the declining side, LSI Corp. took a beating Thursday, with 3.4 times its typical volume, after the chip maker cut its fiscal second-quarter forecast and announced it will cut 13 percent of its work force under a restructuring plan.
Shares dropped 11.5 percent to end at $7.65 Thursday, and gave up another 1.8 percent Friday, ending at $7.51.
Research In Motion Ltd. ended the week with a 21 percent runup Friday, lifting the Blackberry maker's stock $34.40 to finish at $199.99.
RIM beat analyst estimates for sales and profit, and gave a robust outlook. A Morgan Keegan analyst said the company's fiscal second-quarter expectation "was bordering on the unbelievable."
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