Monday’s Top 10 Gainers in Focus

U.S. stock futures rose in the pre-market Monday on optimism driven by the continued government stimulus and the availability of the Covid-19 vaccine. However, the three key indexes in the U.S. fell later in the day. At 12:50 p.m. ET, the S&P 500 fell 2.39 percent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 2.23 percent, and Nasdaq Composite slipped 2.50 percent.

On the other hand, stocks in the European and Asian markets rose on Monday. Europe Stoxx 600 advanced about 1.4 percent, the Shanghai composite rose 0.86 percent, the Shenzhen component climbed 2.466 percent, and KOSPI jumped 2.8 percent. Investors are hopeful that the mass availability of the coronavirus vaccine will help the economic activity to bounce back to the pre-pandemic levels.

The confirmed Covid-19 cases around the world exceeded 85 million on Monday, with more than 1.8 million casualties due to the virus, according to the data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. is on the top with at least 20.6 million confirmed cases so far, with the death toll hitting 351,590. According to the New York Times tracker, over 201,476 new cases were reported on Sunday, while 1,353 people lost their lives.

The United Kingdom today added AstraZeneca’s vaccine to its mass vaccination campaign. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently said the new vaccine will protect millions of people in the coming months. However, he hinted at more restrictions as the second wave of the coronavirus continues to infect a large number of people with every passing day.

If we look at the key U.S. stocks, Tesla shares jumped more than 5 percent this morning after the company reported record deliveries for 2020. However, the big tech giants including Facebook (FB), Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), Amazon (AMZN), and Alphabet (GOOGL), slightly moved down this morning.

The dollar index is also down approx. 0.5 percent today. It is trading around its lowest in more than two years. The dollar fell against major currencies including the Chinese Yuan, Japanese yen, and euro. On the other hand, Gold futures were up more than 2 percent on Monday morning, as the dollar slipped to new lows.

Chief market strategist at FXTM, Hussein Sayed recently said in a statement that, “Multiple factors are likely to continue lending support for gold in the upcoming months.” Gold has performed well in recent months. It rose about 0.5 percent last week, more than 6 percent during the last month, and about 25 percent over the last year.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin (BTC) climbed to new highs on Sunday, touching a record high of $34,792.47. However, the biggest cryptocurrency fell around 10 percent on Monday and is currently trading around $31,000. BTC has shown extreme volatility in recent weeks. Nevertheless, the cryptocurrency climbed about 171 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020, making it one of the top-performing assets for investors.

Now we will have a look at the top 10 gainers of this morning.

10. Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) shares rose more than 3 percent earlier today. The stock has performed well over the last year by rising more than 125 percent. The 52-week range of the stock is $180.68-$589.07. Most analysts are bullish on Nvidia, with a majority of them recommending investors to “Buy” the stock. The consensus price target estimate for NVDA stock is $600, with a high price target estimate of $700, and a low-price target estimate of $370.

9. Xpeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV)

Xpeng Inc. (NYSE:XPEV) stock jumped over 4 percent on Monday after the Chinese electric-vehicle manufacturer announced that it delivered 5,700 Smart EVs during the last month, representing a tremendous surge of 326 percent on a year-over-year basis, and about 35 percent from the prior month. Overall, XPEV delivered 12,964 vehicles during the fourth quarter, up 303 percent from the same quarter of 2019.

8. Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:ZM)

Zoom Video Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:ZM) shares rose more than 5 percent on Monday morning for no apparent reason. The company made exceptional gains in 2020, with its stock value rising nearly 400 percent during the last year. Most of the gains were attributed to the lockdowns during the pandemic, which significantly increased the demand for its video conferencing software. Analysts have mixed opinions about ZM stock, with some saying the stock will continue to grow in 2021, while others believe that the demand for Zoom calls will go down once the pandemic ends.

7. Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)

Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA) got off to a good start today, with stock advancing more than 7 percent after the company announced that it is looking forward to producing 100 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine for the U.S. market in Q1. Those would be enough to vaccinate 50 million people, as two shots of the vaccine are needed to vaccinate a single person. MRNA has already supplied 18 million doses of its vaccine in the U.S since getting approval from the FDA last month.

6. Bilibili Inc. (NASDAQ:BILI)

Bilibili Inc. (NASDAQ:BILI) stock hit a new 52-week high of $96.18 in the current trading session. BILI is a rapidly growing entertainment company. Its stock value climbed over 400 percent in 2020, mainly helped by strong demand for its services during the pandemic. The company is trying to keep up the growth by expanding its content library. In its previous quarterly report, about 15 million users spent money on its platform for accessing premium content. The numbers represented a significant surge of 89 percent on a year-over-year basis.

5. Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ:LI)

Li Auto Inc. (NASDAQ:LI) stock jumped more than 13 percent on Monday morning after the Chinese electric-vehicle maker announced that its Li One SUV deliveries rose to a record high of 6,126 in December, representing a surge of about 530 percent on a year-over-year basis. Overall, LI delivered 14,464 vehicles during the fourth quarter, up 67 percent from the prior quarter.

4. Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA)

Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) stock hit a new 52-week high of $744.49 on the first trading day of 2021. The Palo Alto, California-based company recently reported better-than-expected vehicle deliveries for 2020. TSLA delivered 499,550 vehicles during the last year, beating the consensus estimate of 481,261, and very close to its own target of 0.5 million. TSLA also announced last week that it has started manufacturing Model Y vehicles in China that will further drive growth for the electric car maker in the coming quarters.

3. Magellan Health Inc. (NASDAQ:MGLN)

Magellan Health Inc. (NASDAQ:MGLN) shares jumped more than 13 percent on Monday morning after health insurer Centene Corp (NYSE:CNC) announced that it is acquiring Magellan in a deal valued at $2.2 billion. Magellan will receive $95 per share from Centene. The offer price represents a premium of 14.7 percent from Magellan’s stock closing price of $82.84 on Thursday.

2. Nio Inc. (NYSE:NIO)

Nio Inc. (NYSE:NIO) shares rose over 10 percent today after the company reported strong vehicle deliveries for the fourth quarter and full year. Nio said that it delivered 17,353 during the fourth quarter, representing a surge of nearly two folds from the comparable period of 2019. For the full year, its vehicle deliveries climbed to 43,728, representing a surge of 111 percent on a year-over-year basis.

1. Flir Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR)

Flir Systems Inc. (NASDAQ:FLIR) shares skyrocketed more than 20 percent this morning following the news that Teledyne Technologies Inc (NYSE:TDY) has decided to buy Flir in a cash and stock transaction valued at nearly $8 billion. The offer price represents a hefty premium of about 28 percent to FLIR stock closing price in the previous trading session. Teledyne shares fell over 8 percent after announcing the deal.

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Disclosure: No positions. Monday’s Top 10 Gainers is originally published at Insider Monkey.