Why Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK), Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc (FRGI) and Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (RAX) Are 3 of Today’s Best Stocks

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Stocks were mixed Friday following Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s speech from the highly anticipated Jackson Hole, Wyoming meeting of the U.S. central bank.

Why Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK), Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc (FRGI) and Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (RAX) Are 3 of Today's Best StocksThe S&P 500 fell 0.16% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined by 0.29%. The Nasdaq Composite salvaged things for the broader indexes with a gain of 0.13%.

On a slow summer Friday, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc (NASDAQ:FRGI) and Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (NYSE:RAX) offered plenty of action and upside.

Autodesk, Inc. (ADSK)

Shares of software maker Autodesk, Inc. climbed 8.1% on more than quadruple the average daily volume after the company delivered impressive earnings, prompting a spate of analyst upgrades.

For the second quarter, ADSK earned 5 cents per share on revenue of $551 million. Analysts were expecting a loss of 13 cents on revenue of $512 million. ADSK forecast third-quarter revenue of $470 to $485 million.

Wedbush boosted its price target on ADSK to $60 from $57 while Canaccord Genuity raised its target on the stock to $65 from $60. Canaccord Genuity and Wedbush have “neutral” ratings on Autodesk.

Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc (FRGI)

Shares of Fiesta Restaurant Group Inc surged 9.2% on more than 17 times the usual turnover after the Texas-based company said CEO Tim Taft will retire from that role at the end of fiscal 2016.

In a statement, FRGI said it intends to review the company’s strategic plan, which could also include a tax-free spin-off of its Taco Cabana restaurants. FRGI is also the parent company of the Pollo Tropical restaurants.

The separation of Taco Cabana was previously announced, but FRGI has a low cost basis in that chain, potentially making a spin-off an attractive way of maximizing shareholder value.

Rackspace Hosting, Inc. (RAX)

Cloud computing firm Rackspace Hosting, Inc. climbed 4.3% on more than 15 times the usual volume after the company accepted a $4.3 billion takeover from Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO).

RAX has been frequently mentioned as a takeover target in the fast-growing cloud computing space. Apollo’s offer for RAX is just a 6% premium.

“Rackspace put itself on the market in 2014 before pulling itself off the market, but rumors persisted that it could be sold to private equity firms,” according to Investor’s Business Daily.

At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.

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Todd Shriber has been an InvestorPlace contributor since 2014.


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/08/autodesk-inc-adsk-fiesta-restaurant-group-inc-frgi-rackspace-hosting-inc-rax-3-todays-best-stocks/.

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