Investors preferred safe-haven assets, such as gold and U.S. government bonds, on Thursday, sending stocks to modest losses on the day.
The S&P 500 lost 0.17% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 0.11%. The Nasdaq Composite dropped nearly a third of a percent.
Stocks gave back some of their recent gains Thursday, but that did not stop Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAY), LinkedIn Corp (NYSE:LNKD) and J M Smucker Co (NYSE:SJM) from delivering boffo performances.
Dave & Buster’s Entertainment, Inc. (PLAY)
Dave & Buster’s, the operator of the casual dining and gaming establishments by the same name, rallied for a second consecutive day. Thursday’s pop in PLAY, which saw the stock gain 3.4% on more than double the average daily volume, came a day after the shares surged following an upbeat first-quarter earnings report.
On Wednesday, some analysts upped earnings estimates for PLAY while reiterating some bullish commentary on the stock. For example, Jefferies reiterated a buy rating and $50 price target on PLAY while William Blair boosted its 2016 EPS estimate on PLAY by 30% to $1.97 a share.
Texas-based PLAY also authorized $100 million share buyback program yesterday.
LinkedIn Corp (LNKD)
Shares of LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals, climbed nearly 2% on heavy volume after RBC analyst Mark Mahaney upgraded LNKD to “outperform” from “market perform.” RBC also has a $160 price target on LNKD, implying decent upside from where shares of LNKD closed today.
“Our summary takeaway is that LNKD appears to be executing reasonably well against very large Hiring Solutions and Marketing Solutions TAMs and doesn’t appear to be facing material new competitive challenges. We thus continue to view LNKD as a fundamentally good growth asset, with a healthily diversified revenue base,” according to an excerpt of an RBC note posted by Barron’s.
J M Smucker Co (SJM)
J M Smucker, the maker of the eponymous jams and jellies, rose almost 8% on volume that was nearly five times the daily average after delivering fiscal fourth-quarter results that easily beat Wall Street estimates.
For its fiscal fourth quarter, SJM earned $1.44 a share, easily topping the average estimate of $1.21 per share. SJM’s sales rose 25% to $1.81 billion during the quarter.
SJM, the maker of Milk Bone treats and Meow Mix pet food, hit an all-time high today.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned companies.
