Why Pandora Media Inc (P), Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL) and Atmel Corporation (ATML) Are 3 of Today’s Best Stocks

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U.S. stocks began the week on a stronger note, shaking off a disappointing housing report and a critical tweet from Hillary Clinton and reacting favorably to St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard’s comments to CNBC that he would have been against the Fed’s decision to keep rates where they are.

stock market todayTraders who were disappointed that interest rates were not increased by the Fed seemed to cling their hopes to Bullard’s hawkish stance, even though his comments mean little in actuality until the next time the Fed meets.

Ms. Clinton’s tweet was a reaction to a NY Times article about a drug company that raised the price on one pill from $13.50 to $750, saying, “Price gouging like this in the specialty drug market is outrageous. Tomorrow I’ll lay out a plan to take it on.”

In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that existing home sales fell 4.8% in the month of August to an annual rate of 5.31 million. Economists put a positive spin on this by saying that, with the many preceding months of increases, it made sense that there was a bit of a pullback.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was the strongest index today, up 0.8%, while the S&P 500 was 0.5% higher and the Nasdaq was essentially flat.

Stocks in the news today include Pandora Media Inc (NYSE: P), Paypal Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: PYPL) and Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) — all of which had great days to become three of today’s best stocks.

Pandora Media Inc (P)

Shares of P bolted higher today after a ruling from the Copyright Office on royalty rates was positive for the music streaming company in setting fair market rates it will pay for its music from 2016 to 2020.

The ruling affirmed the admissibility of a 2014 agreement that Pandora made with Merlin, a company that represents independent record labels, to set reasonable rates paid for each song that Pandora uses. The copyright office said that the agreement was “a valid benchmark in the Copyright Royalty Board proceedings.”

P stock ended the day up more than 5%.

Paypal Holdings Inc (PYPL)

PYPL stock was moving 4% higher today after Stifel analyst Scott Devitt raised his rating on Paypal from “hold” to “buy”, and set a $40 price target.

Devitt feels that the recent selloff that brought PYPL stock down from $42 to $33 is overdone and that the company’s “One Touch” payment solution, which allows users to pay without entering username and password each time, will increase prior estimates of transaction volume.

Atmel Corporation (ATML)

ATML stock surged more than 12% higher today after announcing it has been acquired by German-based Dialog Semiconductor PLC (ETR:DLG) for $4.6 billion.

The terms of the deal state that Dialog will pay ATML shareholders the equivalent of $10.42 per share.

The acquisition was somewhat expected on the heels of Atmel CEO Steven Laub’s announcement last month that he would delay his retirement, until a “strategic review” was finished. One week ago, a report that China Electronics Corp Holdings Co. Ltd. (HKG:0085) was considering the acquisition of Atmel for only $8.50 per share, sent ATML stock all the way down to $7.40 per share.

Investors were much happier to get this new deal today.

As of this writing, Ethan Roberts does not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/09/pandora-media-inc-p-paypal-holdings-inc-pypl-atmel-corporation-atml-3-todays-best-stocks/.

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