10 Firms Post Impressive Gains on Monday

Wall Street ended the first trading day of the week on a mixed note, with the Dow Jones the sole gainer, up 0.65 percent.

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both fell by a whopping 1.46 percent and 3.07 percent, respectively, over fears that China is overtaking the US in innovations in the Artificial Intelligence industry, dampening confidence at a time when the world’s largest economy is bolstering investments in the sector.

Meanwhile, ten companies under mixed sectors ended the day stronger. In this article, we will take a look at which of the 10 companies posted impressive gains during a broader market pessimism and look at the reasons behind their rally.

Monday’s top advancers only considered the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.

A stock market data. Photo by AlphaTradeZone on Pexels

10. Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)

Pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson grew its share prices by 4.14 percent to close at $152.89 apiece as investors took heart from an investment bank’s rating upgrade of the company.

On Monday, Barclays analyst Matt Miksic boosted his price target for Johnson & Johnson to $166 from $159 previously on the back of a strong fourth-quarter earnings performance.

Particularly, its oncology segment showed strength that offset weaker areas namely electrophysiology and surgery.

In other news, Johnson & Johnson is currently on a shopping spree of other pharmaceutical firms, with the latest being Intra-Cellular Therapies which it plans to acquire for $14.6 billion.

The transaction would mark the latter’s biggest deal in more than two years, bolstering its presence in the brain disease treatments market.

9. Lennar Corp. (NYSE:LEN)

Property developer Lennar Corp. saw its share prices rise by 4.14 percent on Monday to end at $137.82 apiece following news that it would develop a 170-acre real estate project on the rural southwest side of Whitestown Indiana.

To be called Cardinal Estates, Lennar Corp. would build 360 houses expected to be catered to individuals aged 55 and above.

The active adult community would feature mostly one-story houses and some homes with partial second stories. While the project would cater mostly to senior citizens, Lennar Corp. said that there would not be an age limit for those who could live in the subdivision.

According to the company, each unit would range from about $250,000 to $350,000 which translates to a potential sales value between $90 million to $126 million.