Wall Street extended its lackluster performance on Tuesday, with two major indices finishing with only slight changes amid a series of key factors keeping investor sentiment neutral.
Only the Dow Jones finished in the green territory, posting a 0.37 percent gain. In contrast, the S&P decreased by 0.47 percent while the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell by 1.37 percent.
During the last trading session, ten companies defied a generally cautious market, albeit posting only modest gains. In this article, we have detailed the reasons behind their stronger performance.
To come up with Tuesday’s top gainers, we considered only the stocks with $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.
A laptop and a computer monitor display a detailed stock market technical analysis chart. Photo by Jakub Zerdzicki on Pexels
10. Lloyds Banking Group PLC (NYSE:LYG)
Lloyds Banking Group grew its share prices by 4.41 percent on Tuesday to close at $3.55 as investor sentiment was fueled by a price upgrade from an investment bank.
In a report published Tuesday, JPMorgan said it raised its price target for LYG to £62 from £55 previously, while keeping an ‘underweight’ rating on the shares.
The rating upgrade was achieved despite a dismal fourth-quarter earnings performance, where net income last year dropped by 19 percent to £4.477 billion from £5.518 billion in 2023.
Meanwhile, net income in the fourth quarter alone inched up by 3.4 percent to £4.378 billion from £4.232 billion in 2023.
On Tuesday, LYG also announced the appointment of Natasha Sayce-Zalem as director of digital and business platforms across its Homes business.
Formerly the global head of partner engineering for Amazon Prime Video for the past four years, Sayce-Zalem will be responsible for accelerating the digitization of mortgage processes across LYG brands and channels.
Her appointment came at a time when LYG was on its planned closure of 130 high-street bank locations across the UK this year.
9. Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC)
Ericsson rose for a second day on Tuesday, adding 4.53 percent to close at $8.30 apiece as investors cheered news of the company’s new bagged deal with India-based telecommunications operator Bharti Airtel.
In a statement, ERIC said it would supply Bharti Airtel with 5G equipment to support the latter’s transition to a commercially live, full-scale 5G standalone (SA) network over the next few years.
The SA network will only power 5G frequency, as against a non-standalone (NSA) network which can operate various frequencies such as 5G, 4G, and 3G in one.
Part of the agreement will also see the deployment of ERIC’s signaling controller and 5G SA-enabled charging and policy solutions within Airtel’s network.
According to Airtel Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Gopal Vittal, the telco giant will soon roll out fixed wireless access (FWA) services on an SA basis.
8. Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL)
Newell Brands saw its share prices rise by 4.96 percent on Tuesday to end at $6.77 apiece as investors bought up shares ahead of the record date for its dividend payout.
NWL is set to pay its shareholders with a $0.07 dividend for every share as of the record date, February 28, or this coming Friday. The dividends are payable on March 14, 2025.
In recent news, NWL reported dismal earnings performance last year, with net sales for the last quarter dropping by 8.4 percent to $1.9 billion from $2.076 billion in the same period last year, while net sales for the full year 2024 declined to $7.5 billion from the $8.13 billion in 2023.
NWL was able to narrow its net loss by 37 percent to $54 million from $86 million during the quarter as well as for the full year—by 44.3 percent at $216 million from $388 million.
Furthermore, NWL expected even lower net sales for the full year 2025, declining between 2 to 4 percent.
7. Rocket Companies Inc. (NYSE:RKT)
Rocket Companies rallied by 5.19 percent on Tuesday to finish at $13.78 apiece as investors repositioned portfolios ahead of the release of its 2024 earnings performance on Thursday, February 27.
For the fourth quarter, analysts expect the company to post earnings per share of $0.03 and revenues of $1.15 billion.
RKT announced earlier this month its new program called RocketRentRewards—its first offer to provide closing cost credit for renters.
With a Rocket mortgage, homebuyers can earn 10 percent back in the last 12 months of rental payments and up to $5,000 in lender credits toward closing costs. With the national average rent at $1,800, this translates to $2,160 applied toward a client’s closing costs.
RKT is a Detroit-based financial technology platform that commits to “Help Everyone Home” through services such as mortgage, real estate, and personal finance. It owns the brands Rocket Mortgage, Rocket Homes, Rocket Close, Rocket Money, and Rocket Loans.
6. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (NASDAQ:WBA)
Walgreens firmed up for a second day on Tuesday, adding 5.18 percent to close at $11.38 apiece, as investors continued to gobble up shares over brewing reports that its planned acquisition deal with Sycamore Partners is making progress.
On Monday, credit information provider Octus said in its social media handle on X that Morgan Stanley, UBS, and other private lenders are working on a $10 billion package to back Sycamore Partners’ potential buyout.
Recent reports earlier suggested that Sycamore and WBA’s negotiations remained alive after being considered mostly dead a few weeks ago.
Reports about the potential acquisition broke out in December last year, with the deal expected to be successfully closed this year.
According to the report, Sycamore “would likely sell off pieces of the business or work with partners.”
In October last year, WBA announced that it was closing around 1,200 stores over the next three years, including 500 for this year alone, as it scrambles to turn around its ailing business.
5. XPeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV)
XPeng saw its share prices rise by 5.46 percent on Tuesday to close at $19.13 apiece as investors cheered the company’s aggressive international market expansion.
The rally came after news that it officially launched its G6 and G9 SUVs in Finland while signaling plans to open two showrooms in Helsinki and Espoo within the year.
Meanwhile, XPEV also confirmed that it would launch its G7 models in Australia in 2026 and will undercut the Tesla Model Y in terms of pricing.
Earlier this month, XPEV CEO He Xiaopeng said that the company targets to increase its international market portfolio to 60 this year from 30 countries in 2024.
“This year, we will increase to 60 and will have established more than 300 after-sales service points worldwide,” he said.
Over the next 10 years, he said that the international markets are expected to power its sales.
4. Hanesbrands Inc. (NYSE:HBI)
HanesBrands grew its share prices by 5.4 percent on Tuesday to close at $6.44 apiece, but shares appeared to be trading sideways over the lack of a clear catalyst to propel higher gains.
Just recently, HBI announced plans to raise as much as $1 billion from a loan facility in a bid to finance its outstanding 4.875 percent Senior Notes due 2026, other term loans, and related fees and expenses.
In addition, the company recently announced the resignation of its CEO, Steve Bratspies, by the end of the year or until a new successor is named. He will also exit from the company’s board of directors.
In its earnings release, HBI said it swung to a net loss of $12.88 million in the fourth quarter of 2024, reversing a $77.9 million net income posted in the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, net losses in full-year 2024 skyrocketed by 1,708 percent to $320 million from $17.7 million in 2023.
Revenues for the quarter grew 4.4 percent to $888 million from $850 million year-on-year, but revenues for full-year 2024 dipped by 3.6 percent to $3.507 billion from $3.639 billion in 2023.
3. Vipshop Holdings Limited (NYSE:VIPS)
Vipshop rose by 6.39 percent on Tuesday to finish at $15.14 apiece as investors bought up its shares after receiving an upgraded rating from an investment firm despite reporting a dismal earnings performance.
According to Barclays analyst Jiong Shao, he maintained his “buy” rating on VIPS while raising his price target to $20 from $19 apiece. The figure represented a 32-percent premium from its last closing price.
Vipshop, an online retail company selling discounted goods in China, saw net income attributable to shareholders for the fourth quarter of 2024 drop by 20 percent to RMB2.4 billion from RMB3 billion in the same period a year earlier. For the full year alone, net profit attributable to shareholders decreased by 4.9 percent to RMB7.7 billion from RMB8.1 billion in 2023.
Net revenues also dipped by 4.3 percent to RMB33.2 billion from RMB34.7 billion while revenues for the full year decreased by 3.9 percent to RMB108.4 billion from RMB112.9 billion year-on-year.
2. BGC Group Inc. (NASDAQ:BGC)
BGC Group rallied by 6.74 percent on Tuesday to close at $9.5 per share as investor sentiment was buoyed by Bank of America’s upgraded rating for the company.
On the same day, Bank of America gave BGC a “buy” rating and a price target of $16, which represented a 68-percent premium from its last closing price.
According to analyst Eli Abboud, BGC is the most overlooked Trump trade in diversified financials, adding that the company’s trading offerings, such as the new FMX Futures Exchange, stand to benefit from the Trump administration’s preference for deregulation.
“Despite BGC trading down post-election, we think an eased regulatory backdrop significantly accelerates FMX Futures’ ramp while the new administration’s agenda (bank deregulation, deficit spending, foreign policy) benefits trading volumes,” he said.
1. Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ:LI)
Li Auto’s share prices jumped by 13.2 percent on Tuesday to finish at $29.84 apiece as investor sentiment was fueled by a sneak peek of its Li i8 vehicle models which reportedly are set to be launched this year.
The Li i8 will be the debut of the I Series, with the I in the name said to represent “intelligence,” according to LI CEO Li Xiang.
Details on the pricing and launch schedule have yet to be announced.
As part of the new I series, the Li i8 will complement the carmaker’s existing electric SUVs under the L series and the MEGA premium MPV.
The new vehicle series forms part of LI’s product roadmap, where it plans to launch five range-extended electric vehicles. Apart from i8, the company will also launch the i6, i7, and i9.
While we acknowledge the potential of LI as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than LI but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
