Twitter, Amazon, Yahoo, Among 5 Stocks Making News Today: What Investors Need to Know

Another Analyst Gives The Thumbs Up to Amazon.com

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is the beneficiary of another bullish analyst rating today, with professionals at William Blair initiating an ‘Outperform’ rating on the stock. The analysts like Amazon’s growth prospects given Amazon Web Services’ dominance. Amazon shares are 7.66% in the green year-to-date and are up by 68% over the last 12 months. 133 funds in our system also expected Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) to perform well in the future, making Jeff Bezos’ company the sixth-most widely held company among the smart money crowd as of the end of March.

Medtronic Wins Tax Case

Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) is slightly in the red today after the company won a lawsuit against the IRS concerning how much of the company’s operating income should be taxed in Puerto Rico and how much should be taxed domestically. Medtronic faced potential losses of $1.4 billion if it had lost the suit. The number of top shareholders in our system with positions in Medtronic PLC (NYSE:MDT) fell by ten quarter-over-quarter to 47 as of the end of the first quarter.

More Buybacks at Applied Materials

Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)‘s board of directors has approved a new $2 billion share buyback authorization following the recent completion of a previous $3 billion buyback program. The buyback authorization could remove 7.5% of Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT)’s float at current prices. Despite the news of the buyback, shares of the stock are down by 1.3% today due to broader market weakness. 39 funds that we follow held shares of the company at the end of March, down by two from the end of 2015.

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