Filed under: Company News, Verizon, Market News, Upgrades and Downgrades, Investing
Let's go over some of last week's best and worst performers.
Glu Mobile (GLUU) -- Up 44 percent last week
Mobile gaming has been a tough sector lately for investors, but Glu Mobile soared last week after posting better-than-expected quarterly results and announcing a potentially lucrative licensing deal. The five-year deal with Katy Perry comes with exclusive rights to mobile gaming. Glu Mobile made the most of its partnership with Kim Kardashian to put out one of the hottest apps of this past summer. Perry's star power is likely to be more lasting, giving the mobile app developer fertile ground to continue putting out chart-topping games.
Conn's (CONN) -- Up 43 percent last week
Last year was brutal for consumer electronics, but there may be some relief in 2015. Conn's reported a nearly 5 percent uptick in year-over-year same-store sales for January after clocking in with flat comps during the holidays.
At least one analyst is feeling charged up with the potential here. B. Riley reiterated its buy rating with a price target of $52. Even with last week's big move, we're still looking at a gain of 131 percent if it hits B. Riley's target.
Frontier Communications (FTR) -- Up 18 percent last week
Verizon (VZ) is streamlining its old-school businesses, and Frontier Communications is the beneficiary. Frontier announced that it would be buying Verizon's wirelines business in a $10.5 billion deal.
Folks are shedding landlines these days, but there's still residual revenue to be milked before everyone cuts the phone cord. Frontier will be picking up Verizon's operations that include 3.7 million landline customers, 1.2 million FiOS video connections and 2.2 million broadband users in California, Florida, and Texas. That's a lot of money for Frontier to be shelling out, but the market's excited about the synergies and the incremental growth at the seemingly stagnant provider of telecom services.
Stratasys (SSYS) -- Down 23 percent last week
3-D printing is a once-scorching-hot sector that gave consumer electronics a run for its money in becoming one of the worst-performing industries of 2014. Hype propelled 3-D printing stocks higher through 2012 and 2013, but they came crashing down last year as mainstream consumers stayed away from the expensive machines that render physical objects.
Stratasys didn't lose as much ground as its smaller rivals last year, but it's off to a bad start in 2015. Morgan Stanley and Stifel Nicolaus downgraded the stock last week after it provided an unflattering outlook for growth in the year ahead.
DeVry Education (DV) -- Down 15 percent last week
It's not easy being a for-profit post-secondary educator these days. DeVry became the latest provider of career-building skills to come up short this earnings season, posting slight declines in revenue and profitability. DeVry missed Wall Street's quarterly profit target for the first time in more than a year.
Yelp (YELP) -- Down 14 percent last week
Yelp may get high marks from foodies and travelers looking for customer reviews of local eateries and other establishments, but investors aren't feeling the love. The company took a hit after posting mixed financial results last week.
Yelp delivered better-than-expected results and provided a reasonable outlook, but the one thing keeping enthusiasm in check is that year-over-year user growth had slowed to just 13 percent. Slowing popularity given Yelp's lofty valuation prompted Pacific Crest, Northland Securities, and B. Riley to downgrade their ratings on the former dot-com darling.
Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Stratasys, Verizon Communications and Yelp. The Motley Fool owns shares of Stratasys. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. Check out our free report on one great stock to buy for 2015 and beyond.