U.S. stocks limped into the end of the first quarter with modest losses Thursday as the S&P 500 lost 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gave up 0.18%. The Nasdaq Composite was able to cobble together a small gain on the day.
Following an intense rally off the February lows, the S&P 500 finished the first quarter in the green, helped in part by the wilting U.S. dollar. The flailing greenback helped lift emerging markets stocks during the quarter with the MSCI Emerging Markets Index posting a solid gain.
The second quarter, which begins tomorrow, could start off with a bang with the arrival of the March jobs report before the open of U.S. markets. Data out Thursday shows initial filings for jobless benefits rose to the highest level in two months.
While the broader market was not all that exciting today, new product launches and takeover rumors made Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT), Medivation Inc (NASDAQ:MDVN) and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) three of today’s best stocks.
Fitbit Inc (FIT)
Fitbit, the maker of wearable fitness devices, saw its shares climb 13.1% on heavy volume after the company revealed bullish shipping data for its Blaze smartwatch and its Atlas mobile fitness tracker.
FIT said it sold more than 1 million Blaze smartwatches in the first month the product was on the market. FIT added that buyers scooped up more than 1 million Atlas fitness trackers in the first three weeks that product was available as well.
Longbow Research initiated coverage of FIT today with a “buy” rating and a $20 price target, implying significant upside from where the shares closed today.
The research firm expects FIT to earn $1.10 per share this year on sales of $2.46 billion while Wall Street expects FIT to earn $1.12 a share on revenue of $2.438 billion, according to Barron’s.
Medivation Inc (MDVN)
Biotechnology firm Medivation surged almost 23% on volume that was more than five times the daily average following reports the company is receiving interest from potential buyers. Various media outlets reported Wednesday that MDVN hired investment bankers to help the company ward off the suitors in an effort to remain independent.
Analysts are speculating about possible buyers for MDVN, with familiar names such as Amgen, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN), AstraZeneca Plc (ADR) (NYSE:AZN) and French pharma giant Sanofi SA (ADR) (NYSE:SNY) among those on the list.
Credit Suisse said in a note out Thursday that MDVN could be worth $54 to $59 a share, or as much as $60 to $75 per share when accounting for possible tax benefits. Those figures are well above where shares of MDVN closed today.
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)
Elon Musk’s Tesla Motors rose 1.3% on news buyers are lining up in big numbers to reserve TSLA’s new, lower-priced Model 3. California-based TSLA will hold an official unveiling event later tonight for the Model 3, which will not enter production until late next year.
Buyers must shell out $1,000 to reserve their orders. One analyst cited by MarketWatch believes that early orders for the new car could top 100,000, representing $3.5 billion for TSLA.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
