Stocks on Wall Street rose cautiously on Friday, with the main averages finishing at new all-time highs pending additional fiscal support from Washington to help the US economy recover.
They achieved a weekly gain of 1.7%, while the and the tacked at 1.2% and 1% respectively over the same time frame.
Meanwhile, the so-called Wall Street fear meter closed below 20 for the first time since February 2020.
INDU: SPX: COMPQ: VIX Daily
With another string of high-profile earnings reports on the horizon, as well as key economic data, the upcoming holiday-shortened week is expected to be another busy week on Wall Street. The US stock markets are closed on Monday due to the holiday of Presidents.
Regardless of which direction the market is heading, below we highlight one stock that is likely to be in high demand in the coming days and another stock that could see another downside.
However, keep in mind that our timetable is for the next week only.
Stocks to Buy: Roku
Roku (NASDAQ 🙂 will be in the spotlight this week as investors await latest financial results from flying, streaming media platform provider, which is scheduled to report earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, Feb. 18.
It has surpassed or matched Wall Street estimates dating back to Q3 2017 due to the rapid growth in user base, which has translated into higher ad revenue.
Consensus expectations call for a loss of 6 cents a share in the fourth quarter, better than a loss per share of 13 cents in the same period a year ago. Revenues are expected to grow approximately 49% year-on-year to $ 613.6 million, driven by strong growth in ad-supported video-on-demand (VOD) services.
In addition to top and bottom line numbers, investors will want to pay close attention to Roku & # 39; s update regarding its active user accounts and average revenue per user (ARPU) – two important metrics for the streaming company.
Roku & # 39; s active accounts were up 43% from the same period last year to 46 million from the third quarter, while the ARPU came in with a double-digit percentage gain, growing 20% ??year-over-year to a record high of $ 27.
Roku has been one of the best performing companies in the market for the past 12 months. After gaining 165% in 2020, ROKU stock is up an additional 41% in the first six weeks of 2021.
Shares ended Friday at $ 468.67, just below their all-time high of $ 479.95 on Feb. 11, putting the San Jose, California-based streaming video pioneer at around $ 58. , Earned 5 billion.
Despite strong earnings and high valuation levels, we expect ROKU shares to continue to rise in the coming months as the current business environment has created a perfect backdrop for the fast-growing streaming media platform to continue to thrive.
Stock To Dump: Virgin Galactic
Virgin Galactic (NYSE 🙂 stocks appear to be under additional selling pressure in the coming days as a result of the decision's continued ramifications on late last week to postpone the long-awaited test flight of its SpaceShipTwo Unity spacecraft.
If recent history serves as a guide, following the abort of a test flight on December 12, Virgin Galactic's stock fell 27% in the week following the move, due to a malfunction in the rocket engine firing sequence . This test, scheduled for Saturday, was dropped to allow more time for technical checks, according to the company's Twitter account, which did not provide additional details.
No new date has been set, although a spokeswoman said there are still opportunities to conduct the test flight in February, pending weather conditions.
Investors have been eagerly awaiting this test flight. It is an important step that is needed before the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) authorizes the launch of Virgin Galactic commercial spaceflights.
SPCE shares plummeted 8% on Friday to close the session at $ 54.59, pulling back from their all-time high of $ 62.70 reached on February 4.
At current levels, the Las Cruces, New Mexico-based space tourism company has a market capitalization of $ 12.8 billion, despite losing money and generating little to no revenue.
Still, Virgin Galactic's shares are already up nearly 130% by 2021, given its emerging status as a leader in the burgeoning space industry.
But the nosebleed rating – SPCE is trading at an unprecedented price-to-sell ratio of over 3,200 – leaves little room for error in its quest to bring the first tourists to space by the end of this year.
]
