2014 S&P 500 Best Performers

18 min readJan 4, 2015

As they say, there are many reasons to sell a stock, but only one good reason to buy. In this piece, I deep dive into the work of the wonderful people at Quartz, to uncover that “one good reason” behind the rally in the best performing S&P 500 stocks of 2014.

I pick the top S&P 500 performer for each trading day in 2014, on the basis of the % daily change in the closing price
Needless to say, it is notoriously difficult, to establish causality and unequivocally state that the stock price increased because of ‘X’ or ‘Y’. I therefore, take the easy way out, and rely upon the “market pundits” to unearth the reason behind the rally
Ultimately, I would like to explore if stock price gains are randomly driven by technical factors, or if they are, indeed, precipitated by material changes in the long-term value of the company

Here is a link to the original Quartz post, by David Yanofsky, seductively titled “How you could have turned $1,000 into billions of dollars by perfectly trading the S&P 500 in 2014”.

And a big thank you to the people at TheStreet, Yahoo Finance, Forbes, Bloomberg, TheMotleyFool, SeekingAlpha, MarketWatch, Barrons & WSJ for providing virtually open access to their relentless 24x7 coverage of the financial markets. This exercise, would have been a whole lot easier, if I had done it during my summer internship a couple of years ago, when I had access to a Bloomberg terminal!

**Chart 1:** As illustrated in the left chart, the largest stock price bumps seem to be clustered around the earnings season (Jan/Jun/Sep). Around 75% of the best performers rise somewhere between 2.5% and 10%. On average, you can expect the best S&P 500 performer to rise by 8.5%.

**Chart 2**: As expected, the single biggest factor, behind stock price increases, is the quarterly earnings call (31%). I have further decomposed this category, based on the % difference between the consensus analyst EPS estimate & the reported figure. A majority (16% out of 31%) of the S&P 500 best performers, exceed analyst expectations by less than 10%. Unsurprisingly, the second biggest factor in determining stock price gains is, positive news/updates related specifically to the company (21%). It is worth noting, that 13% of the stock price movements can be attributed to positive analyst commentary and ratings upgrade, outside of the earnings season. This highlights the power wielded by equity research analysts in the marketplace. Speculation surrounding M&A activity, results in around 13% of the stock price pops, which explains the sensitive nature of M&A deals. I was quite surprised to discover that activist investors, including Bill Ackman, Carl Icahn, Dan Loeb, Barry Rosenstein, Paul Singer & Jeff Smith, are indeed a force to reckon with. Markets seem to move sharply, when these investors simply disclose their personal stake in a company. Similarly, insider buying by CEOs & directors and share re-purchase programs, lead to significant bumps in stock price. Finally, I was not able to clearly determine the rationale underlying around 8% of the stock price movements. I assume these can be attributed to generic factors such as portfolio re-allocation or ongoing long-term rallies. I hope, nothing sinister is at play!

**Chart 3:** A majority of the S&P 500 best performers, belong to the NYSE, which is counter-intuitive, since you would assume that small-cap stocks listed on the NASDAQ are more susceptible to large swings. Healthcare (19%), Consumer Discretionary (21%) & Tech (19%) stocks are most likely to be the best performing S&P 500 stocks.

**Chart 4:** A natural question, following the above analysis, is how permanent is the daily surge in stock price? In other words, does the increase in stock price, signify a real increase in the true long-term value of the company, or is it just ephemeral? As this chart demonstrates, the gains achieved by the best performing S&P 500 stocks, seem to be quite long-lasting. The red bars denote the day-on-day % change in the best performing S&P 500 stock, while the green bar denotes the 7-day % change in stock price. As can be seen, the two series seem to be positively correlated, barring a few drastic negative movements. This signifies, that the best performing S&P 500 stocks, are more likely to retain their gains and convert their daily fortunes into longer-term rallies.

The gold droplets represent delta earnings (i.e. difference between reported EPS & consensus analyst EPS estimate)

Notes:

According to my analysis, the best performing stock on November 03rd, 2014 was Tesoro Petroleum (NYSE: TSO). However, according to the Quartz analysis, the best performing stock for Nov 03rd, was Agilent Technologies (NASDAQ: A). I am still trying to determine the reason behind this deviation.
It is worth noting that, ultimately, all stock price changes can be traced back to a material change in the real economy. For instance, some movements above were attributed to analyst recommendations. However, the analyst rating upgrade, in turn, could be attributed to an expected rise in future earnings, which could in-turn be traced to an expected growth in future revenue/profits, i.e. growth in the real economy
The above analysis is limited to stock price movements on a daily basis. It is quite possible that the best performing stock of the day, could simply be paring its earlier losses (dead cat bounce). Therefore, every stock price pop, does not automatically denote a positive development.
As mentioned above, I was not able to find the reason for certain stock price changes based on my initial research. I suspect that such stock rallies might be driven by generic factors such as portfolio re-allocation or sector rallies. I have highlighted the stock price changes, that have not been satisfactorily accounted for, in bold in the Bibliography section.

Areas For Further Research:

I would like to tease out the regression co-efficient between the earnings differential and the increase in stock price. In other words, for each percent of positive surprise in earnings, what would be the associated impact on the stock price. I do not have enough data, at the moment, to conduct this analysis
I would also like to explore the effectiveness of such an earnings-based trading strategy, by back-testing the results from the regression analysis above. Could the regression results based on the top S&P 500 performers, be applied to normal scenarios? If so, could we effectively predict the surge/fall in stock prices, based on the surprise factor in reported earnings?
Similarly, I would like to explore the effectiveness of equity analyst rating upgrades on stock prices, both in the short-term and long-term. Do they depend on the reputation of the firm? Do they depend on the success of their previous commentary? Do the stock prices move solely because of the analyst commentary or prior to the rating changes? (i.e. do the market participants really ‘listen’ to the equity analysts?)
It appears as if more than 90% of stock price bumps can be attributed to positive news coming out of the media — be they quarterly earnings or analyst rating upgrades or company/macro-economic news. This explains the prevalence and increasing adoption of algorithmic/automated trading. With further advances in machine learning, could we enter an era, where technologies capable of understanding language, can trade autonomously, thereby completely eliminating the need for human intervention?

Bibliography:

January 2014

3/01/2014 DAL Delta Air Lines 5.52% Positive guidance for Q4 2013 results; Analyst rating upgrade; Link
6/01/2014 FB Facebook 4.84% Analysts raise price target on online ad revenue; Link
7/01/2014 FLIR FLIR Systems 9.67% Launch of a new thermal imaging system at CES ’14 ; Link
8/01/2014 MU Micron Technology 9.85% Stronger than expected Q1 results, due to spike in DRAM prices; Link
9/01/2014 M Macy’s Inc. 7.64% Announcement of profit forecasts and job cuts; Link
10/01/2014 ISRG Intuitive Surgical Inc. 8.63% Positive analyst notes from Wedbush/SunTrust; Link
13/01/2014 JNPR Juniper Networks 7.56% Targeted by activist hedge fund, Elliot Management; Link
14/01/2014 REGN Regeneron 11.78% Increase in revenue from Eylea, top-selling product; Link
15/01/2014 NTAP NetApp 8.26% Unclear; Positive analyst buzz & rating upgrade; Link
16/01/2014 AA Alcoa Inc 4.25% Announced it was shutting down smelters to cut capacity Link
17/01/2014 EA Electronic Arts 11.88% CRT analysts recommend buying the stock Link
21/01/2014 AA Alcoa Inc 6.78% JP Morgan analyst rating upgrade on strong Bauxite demand Link
22/01/2014 TEL TE Connectivity Ltd. 6.57% Q1 earnings & forecast EPS beats analyst estimates Link
23/01/2014 NFLX Netflix Inc. 16.48% Extraordinary Q4 results, amidst surge in customer base Link
24/01/2014 JNPR Juniper Networks 6.57% Q4 revenue/earnings beat consensus analyst estimate Link
27/01/2014 CAT Caterpillar Inc. 5.94% Positive Q4 results & 2014 forecasts on US building recovery Link
28/01/2014 DHI D. R. Horton 9.84% Jump in Q1 earnings, amidst housing market recovery Link
29/01/2014 STX Seagate Technology 4.13% Dead Cat bounce, paring prior losses after dismal Q2 profits Link
30/01/2014 UA Under Armour 22.93% Announcement of better-than-expected Q4 profits; 15th consecutive quarter Link
31/01/2014 CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill 11.74% Announcement of Q4 profits & increase in same store sales Link

February 2014

3/02/2014 KMX Carmax Inc 1.44% Unclear; Potentially due to the success of Super Bowl commercial Link
4/02/2014 KORS Michael Kors Holdings 17.27% Better-than-expected Q3 earnings, riding on +ve luxury retail sales Link
5/02/2014 LVLT Level 3 Communications 10.00% Positive Q4 results, due to increased network service sales Link
6/02/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 26.24% Coca-Cola announces partnership and purchase of 10% stake Link
7/02/2014 EXPE Expedia Inc. 14.29% Strong & better-than-expected Q4 results Link
10/02/2014 HAS Hasbro Inc. 4.53% Announcement of Q4 results, along with share re-purchase & dividend Link
11/02/2014 MNK Mallinckrodt plc 11.60% Announcement of acquisition of Cadence Pharmaceuticals Link
12/02/2014 TRIP TripAdvisor 7.21% Q4 results beat estimates & positive guidance for 2014 revenue Link
13/02/2014 GT Goodyear Tire & Rubber 11.46% Strong Q4 results and termination of partnership with Sumitomo Link
14/02/2014 AET Aetna Inc 5.23% Unclear; GlenView Capital discloses position in Aetna Link
18/02/2014 FSLR First Solar Inc 6.94% Positive expectations for Q4 earnings announcement Link
19/02/2014 NBR Nabors Industries Ltd. 13.34% Better-than-expected Q4 earnings due to international sales Link
20/02/2014 PWR Quanta Services Inc. 7.60% Q4 results beat top and bottom line estimates Link
21/02/2014 AEE Ameren Corp 5.33% Regulatory approval for electric transmission project & Q4 earnings Link
24/02/2014 HUM Humana Inc. 10.57% Announcement of Medicare reimbursement rate cuts Link
25/02/2014 FTR Frontier Communications 10.68% Strong Q4 results and increase in broadband customers Link
26/02/2014 NFX Newfield Exploration Co 7.33% Q4 revenue beat estimates & wind down of international operations Link
27/02/2014 MYL Mylan Inc. 9.43% Positive Q4 earnings and upcoming substantial transaction Link
28/02/2014 KR Kroger Co. 4.48% Expectation over upcoming Q4 earnings announcement Link

March 2014

3/03/2014 LO Lorillard Inc. 9.27% FT reports Reynolds American is exploring acquisition Link
4/03/2014 TRIP TripAdvisor 6.31% Considers takeover of OpenTable Link
5/03/2014 FB Facebook 4.03% Price target increased by Stifel Nicolaus Link
6/03/2014 VLO Valero Energy 5.17% Unclear; CEO announced to step down earlier Link
7/03/2014 MLM Martin Marietta Materials 2.50% CEO appears at NSSGA conference Link
10/03/2014 ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals 7.11% Announces upward guidance for 2014 sales Link
11/03/2014 MCD McDonald’s Corp. 3.76% CFO announces plans to return cash to shareholders Link
12/03/2014 TSO Tesoro Petroleum Co. 4.07% Unclear Link
13/03/2014 MNK Mallinckrodt plc 3.17% Secures FDA approval for pain medication Link
14/03/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 6.68% Extension of partnership agreement with Starbucks Link
17/03/2014 FSLR First Solar Inc 4.61% Announces completion of Japanese power plant Link
18/03/2014 FOSL Fossil, Inc. 4.61% Google announces Android Wear partnership with FOSL Link
19/03/2014 FSLR First Solar Inc 20.57% Announces stellar guidance figures for 2014–2016 Link
20/03/2014 TDC Teradata Corp. 4.58% NTT Docomo selects Teradata as its data platform Link
21/03/2014 NFX Newfield Exploration Co 5.99% Unclear; Ongoing rally Link
24/03/2014 SYMC Symantec Corp. 4.89% BMO Capital rating upgrade after CEO departure Link
25/03/2014 MKC McCormick & Co. 5.47% Posts better-than-expected Q1 results Link
26/03/2014 DTV DirecTV 5.70% Speculation over merger with Dish Network Link
27/03/2014 AA Alcoa Inc 6.16% Launches a lighter truck wheel, leading to fuel savings Link
28/03/2014 GME GameStop Corp. 8.81% Stern Agee maintains ‘Buy’ rating and price target Link
31/03/2014 MU Micron Technology 7.99% Positive coverage by RBC Capital & SeekingAlpha Link

April 2014

1/04/2014 ISRG Intuitive Surgical Inc. 12.70% Regulatory approval for da Vinci robotic surgery system Link
2/04/2014 ISRG Intuitive Surgical Inc. 5.04% Upgraded by JMP securities from Market Under-perform to Market Outperform Link
3/04/2014 APC Anadarko Petroleum Corp 14.51% Reaches settlement with DoJ and agrees to clean up polluted sites Link
4/04/2014 BBY Best Buy Co. Inc. 3.47% Merrill Lynch analysts re-iterate ‘Buy’ rating Link
7/04/2014 ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals 2.22% Unclear Link
8/04/2014 FSLR First Solar Inc 7.01% Re-considers Australian investments; Cramer recommendation Link
9/04/2014 FB Facebook 7.25% Buy’ rating re-iterated by SunTrust, driven by FB’s ad strategy Link
10/04/2014 WIN Windstream Communications 2.11% Unclear Link
11/04/2014 AGN Allergan Inc 3.65% JnJ ends development of anti-wrinkle treatment, challenging Allergan’s Botox Link
14/04/2014 EW Edwards Lifesciences 11.00% EW secures court injunction against MedTronic on patent infringement Link
15/04/2014 TRIP TripAdvisor 4.43% Piper Jaffray reiterates ‘Overweight’ rating & becomes the most popular travel app Link
16/04/2014 YHOO Yahoo Inc. 6.26% Positive Q1 results, boosted by stellar Alibaba earnings Link
17/04/2014 SNDK SanDisk Corporation 9.41% Positive Q1 results and Morgan Stanley increases price target Link
21/04/2014 NEM Newmont Mining Corp. (Hldg. Co.) 6.41% Ongoing updates from merger talks with Barrick Gold Link
22/04/2014 AGN Allergan Inc 15.25% Hostile tag-team bid from Valeant & Bill Ackman Link
23/04/2014 DAL Delta Air Lines 6.12% Posts better-than-expected Q1 results, owing to lower fuel prices Link
24/04/2014 ZMH Zimmer Holdings 11.50% Board of Directors approve acquisition of Biomet, amidst positive Q1 results Link
25/04/2014 THC Tenet Healthcare Corp. 9.13% LifePoint, another for-profit hospital chain, posts +ve Q1 results Link
28/04/2014 ROP Roper Industries 6.51% Posts better-than-expected Q1 results and raises revenue forecasts Link
29/04/2014 AMG Affiliated Managers Group Inc 8.53% Buys majority stake in global equity manager, Veritas Asset Management, amidst +ve Q1 earnings Link
30/04/2014 POM Pepco Holdings Inc. 17.42% Exelon Corp. announces acquisition plans for Pepco Link

May 2014

1/05/2014 CBG CBRE Group 8.82% Announcement of Q1 results beating analyst estimates Link
2/05/2014 WYNN Wynn Resorts Ltd 7.28% Better-than-expected Q1 results owing Macau resorts Link
5/05/2014 PKI PerkinElmer 3.56% Janney Capital analysts raise rating from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Buy’, along with price targets Link
6/05/2014 AVGO Avago Technologies 4.81% Announcement of completion of LSI acquisition Link
7/05/2014 EA Electronic Arts 21.03% “+”ve Q4 results due to FIFA, Titanfall & Battlefield 4 sales Link
8/05/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 12.99% Announcement of +ve earnings and partnership with Smuckers Link
9/05/2014 CSC Computer Sciences Corp. 7.49% Announcement of +ve Q4 results and stock re-purchase Link
12/05/2014 CRM Salesforce.com 6.26% Unclear; Anticipating positive earnings Link
13/05/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 7.55% Announcement of increase in Coca Cola’s stake in GMCR Link
14/05/2014 IRM Iron Mountain Incorporated 7.18% Positive research note by Piper Jaffray analysts Link
15/05/2014 CSCO Cisco Systems 6.01% Announcement of better-than-expected Q3 results Link
16/05/2014 JWN Nordstrom 14.73% Q1 results top analyst estimates, along with same-store-sales Link
19/05/2014 TRIP TripAdvisor 5.17% Unclear; Portfolio re-allocation Link
20/05/2014 NFLX Netflix Inc. 1.97% CFO speaks at JP Morgan TMT conference Link
21/05/2014 LO Lorillard Inc. 10.40% Speculation over merger with Reynold’s American Link
22/05/2014 DLTR Dollar Tree 6.62% Short squeeze; Announcement of Q1 results Link
23/05/2014 HPQ Hewlett-Packard 6.10% Announcement of Q2 results, along with massive layoff plans Link
27/05/2014 FE FirstEnergy Corp 5.56% Electricity price increases at energy auction Link
28/05/2014 VLO Valero Energy 3.63% Unclear; Ongoing rally Link
29/05/2014 TSN Tyson Foods 6.13% Unsolicited acquisition bid for Hillshire Brands Link
30/05/2014 AGN Allergan Inc 5.65% Acquisition bid from Bill Ackman and Valeant Link

June 2014

2/06/2014 BRCM Broadcom Corporation 9.32% Announcement of strategic wind-down of cellular base-band business Link
3/06/2014 AMAT Applied Materials Inc 4.39% Positive commentary by Jefferies; initiated to a ‘Buy’ rating Link
4/06/2014 UA Under Armour 4.93% Positive commentary by Jefferies; upgraded from ‘Hold’ to ‘Buy’ Link
5/06/2014 JOY Joy Global Inc. 6.66% Earnings beat estimates, amid falling revenue Link
6/06/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 8.39% Call options spike in anticipation of takeover announcement Link
9/06/2014 FDO Family Dollar Stores 13.37% Activist investor, Carl Icahn discloses his 9.4% stake in FDO Link
10/06/2014 TAP Molson Coors Brewing Company 5.36% Speculation over M&A activity in the beer brewing industry Link
11/06/2014 MU Micron Technology 5.02% Rating upgrade by Merill Lynch due to DRAM shortage Link
12/06/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 4.11% Speculation over acquisition announcement by KO Link
13/06/2014 INTC Intel Corp. 6.83% Announcement of improved Q2 revenue outlook Link
16/06/2014 COV Covidien plc 20.45% Announcement of acquisition by Medtronic Link
17/06/2014 ETFC E-Trade 7.74% Senate sub-committee hearing on the impact of HFT Link
18/06/2014 ADBE Adobe Systems Inc 8.20% Q2 results announcement; Increased Creative Cloud sales Link
19/06/2014 KR Kroger Co. 5.06% Q1 results announcement; Strong natural food sales Link
20/06/2014 KMX Carmax Inc 16.50% Q1 results beat analyst estimates Link
23/06/2014 TEG Integrys Energy Group Inc. 12.14% Announcement of acquisition by Wisconsin Energy Link
24/06/2014 VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc 40.41% Announcement of positive drug trial results for cystic fibrosis Link
25/06/2014 SLB Schlumberger Ltd. 6.42% Positive long term guidance for 2016 EPS Link
26/06/2014 IRM Iron Mountain Incorporated 20.05% Board of directors approve conversion to REIT Link
27/06/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 4.05% Analyst rating upgrade by Argus from ‘Hold’ to ‘Buy’ Link
30/06/2014 MU Micron Technology 4.57% Positive note by Credit Suisse analysts; Added to ‘Focus List’ Link

July 2014

1/07/2014 REGN Regeneron 7.41% Sanofi increases stake in REGN Link
2/07/2014 TSN Tyson Foods 2.88% Finalization of acquisition of Hillshire Brands Link
3/07/2014 PETM PetSmart, Inc. 12.50% Activist investor Jana Partners discloses stake Link
7/07/2014 PETM PetSmart, Inc. 2.48% Consensus with Jana partners over potential sale Link
8/07/2014 WHR Whirlpool Corp. 1.83% Close to reaching settlement in class action lawsuit Link
9/07/2014 AA Alcoa Inc 5.66% Posts stronger-than-expected Q2 results Link
10/07/2014 MNST Monster Beverage 2.73% Cramer suggests MNST is a potential takeover target Link
11/07/2014 AMZN Amazon.com Inc 5.57% Seeks FAA permission to test fly drones for the Amazon Prime Air service Link
14/07/2014 PRGO Perrigo 8.69% Speculation over merger with a major pharmaceutical firm Link
15/07/2014 APC Anadarko Petroleum Corp 3.59% Increase in revenue from land ownership in Rocky Mountains Link
16/07/2014 TWX Time Warner Inc. 17.07% Speculation over Murdoch bid Link
17/07/2014 SHW Sherwin-Williams 4.57% Positive Q2 performance, with rise in guidance for 2014 Link
18/07/2014 GILD Gilead Sciences 4.84% Nomura re-iterates ‘Buy’ rating & increases price target Link
21/07/2014 EMC EMC Corp. 5.00% Speculation over plans of activist investor Elliot Management Link
22/07/2014 CMG Chipotle Mexican Grill 11.84% Impressive Q2 results & positive analyst commentary Link
23/07/2014 ISRG Intuitive Surgical Inc. 17.71% Strong Q2 earnings report & analyst rating upgrade Link
24/07/2014 UA Under Armour 14.71% Increased sales lead to strong Q2 performance Link
25/07/2014 VRSN Verisign Inc. 11.56% Misses Q2 revenue targets, but +ve guidance for 2014 Link
28/07/2014 FDO Family Dollar Stores 24.86% Takeover bid by rival, Dollar Tree Link
29/07/2014 FTR Frontier Communications 14.31% Acquisition of AT&T CT operations approved; +ve industry news Link
30/07/2014 EW Edwards Life-sciences 10.00% Positive Q2 earnings, due to payment from lawsuit settlement Link
31/07/2014 MPC Marathon Petroleum 5.70% Stronger-than-expected earnings, due to increased margins in Gulf operations Link

August 2014

1/08/2014 EXPE Expedia Inc. 6.35% Positive analyst commentary following Q2 results announcement Link
4/08/2014 NBL Noble Energy Inc 5.21% Removal of the anti-fracking measures from Colorado’s mid-term ballot Link
5/08/2014 COH Coach Inc. 4.34% Q4 earning results beat analyst estimates Link
6/08/2014 TAP Molson Coors Brewing Company 5.76% Strong Q2 results & ratings upgrade by TheStreet Link
7/08/2014 FOXA Twenty-First Century Fox 5.04% Strong Q4 earnings & ceasing the TWX acquisition efforts Link
8/08/2014 NVDA Nvidia Corporation 8.82% Strong Q2 revenue & positive guidance for Q3 Link
11/08/2014 KMI Kinder Morgan 9.00% Merger of all subsidiaries into a single entity Link
12/08/2014 NEM Newmont Mining Corp. (Hldg. Co.) 2.00% Gold commodity prices rice, due to instability in Ukraine/Iraq Link
13/08/2014 VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc 3.91% Discontinues the sales of Incivek Hepatitis C treatment, due to falling sales Link
14/08/2014 PRGO Perrigo 7.29% Q4 earnings beat estimates and 2015 guidance in range Link
15/08/2014 MNST Monster Beverage 30.48% KO to enter into a strategic partnership with MNST Link
18/08/2014 DG Dollar General 11.63% Announces bid to acquire rival Family Dollar stores Link
19/08/2014 TJX TJX Companies Inc. 8.65% Q2 sales/earnings beat estimates & +ve guidance for 2014 Link
20/08/2014 MNK Mallinckrodt plc 3.83% Competitor, Hospira, pursues lawsuit against FDA Link
21/08/2014 HPQ Hewlett-Packard 5.35% Positive Q3 results, along with in-line guidance for Q4 Link
22/08/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 13.26% Signs a multi-year partnership with Kraft foods Link
25/08/2014 NFX Newfield Exploration Co 3.44% Unclear Link
26/08/2014 AMG Affiliated Managers Group Inc 4.40% Credit Suisse reiterates ‘Outperform’ rating Link
27/08/2014 BBY Best Buy Co. Inc. 6.34% Announces Q2 results, along with a negative outlook Link
28/08/2014 PLL Pall Corp. 3.36% Healthy Q4 earnings beat analyst estimates; in-line guidance figures Link
29/08/2014 AVGO Avago Technologies 7.50% Positive analyst commentary following Q3 results and increased price targets Link

September 2014

2/09/2014 SPLS Staples Inc. 8.13% Credit Suisse upgrades rating to ‘Outperform’ Link
3/09/2014 MNK Mallinckrodt plc 3.69% Positive drug trial results from extended release pain medication Link
4/09/2014 PVH PVH Corp. 9.60% Ratings upgrade by Wells Fargo on positive Q2 earnings Link
5/09/2014 VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc 3.81% Ratings upgrade by Goldman Sachs analyst Link
8/09/2014 YHOO Yahoo Inc. 5.61% Speculation over upcoming Alibaba IPO Link
9/09/2014 THC Tenet Healthcare Corp. 3.36% Unclear Link
10/09/2014 ADS Alliance Data Systems 5.52% Announces new loyalty partnership program with GameStop Link
11/09/2014 IP International Paper 4.18% Speculation over conversion to MLP structure Link
12/09/2014 YHOO Yahoo Inc. 3.93% Positive buzz surrounding Alibaba IPO Link
15/09/2014 TAP Molson Coors Brewing Company 5.85% Heineken turns down SABMiller’s acquisition bid Link
16/09/2014 MU Micron Technology 4.76% Launches power-efficient M600 SSD for PCs & tablets Link
17/09/2014 LEN Lennar Corp. 5.80% Q3 earnings beat analyst estimates Link
18/09/2014 CAG ConAgra Foods Inc. 4.59% Positive update and Q1 earnings beat analyst estimates Link
19/09/2014 VRTX Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc 6.57% Deutsche Band analyst raise price targets earlier in the week Link
22/09/2014 SIAL Sigma-Aldrich 33.24% Merck agrees to buy out life-sciences company SIAL Link
23/09/2014 CF CF Industries Holdings Inc 5.31% Speculation over merger with Yara International Link
24/09/2014 BBBY Bed Bath & Beyond 7.40% Earnings beat estimates, due to increase in same-store sales Link
25/09/2014 MSI Motorola Solutions Inc. 0.71% Plans to reduce & transfer pension obligations to Prudential Link
26/09/2014 NKE NIKE Inc. 12.23% Better-than-expected Q1 earnings and analyst rating upgrades Link
29/09/2014 IRM Iron Mountain Incorporated 6.27% Announces plans to acquire Recall Holdings Link
30/09/2014 EBAY eBay Inc. 7.54% Announces plans to spin off PayPal division Link

October 2014

1/10/2014 COV Covidien plc 2.51% Unclear; Shareholders lawsuit against MedTronic acquisition Link
2/10/2014 AN AutoNation Inc 6.05% Warren Buffet buys stake in Van Tuyl group, private auto dealer Link
3/10/2014 MYL Mylan Inc. 8.02% Increases Q3 and 2014 guidance estimates, on new product approvals Link
6/10/2014 CFN Carefusion 22.92% Becton Dickinson makes acquisition bid for CFN Link
7/10/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 4.88% Goldman initiates coverage with ‘Buy’ rating Link
8/10/2014 ALXN Alexion Pharmaceuticals 5.04% Unclear; Chairman dies while traveling Link
9/10/2014 VTR Ventas Inc 1.33% Unclear Link
10/10/2014 LLL L-3 Communications Holdings 6.51% Revises Q2 income, sales & earnings figures in SEC filing Link
13/10/2014 CSX CSX Corp. 5.88% Turns down acquisition bid from Canadian Pacific Link
14/10/2014 DAL Delta Air Lines 6.12% WHO reports number of Ebola cases is declining in Africa Link
15/10/2014 SWN Southwestern Energy 7.82% Merrill Lynch upgrades rating from ‘Neutral’ to ‘Buy’ Link
16/10/2014 CHK Chesapeake Energy 16.99% Announces deal to sell shale oil wells to Southwestern Link
17/10/2014 MJN Mead Johnson 9.89% Danone expresses interest in acquiring Mead Johnson Link
20/10/2014 TSO Tesoro Petroleum Co. 8.36% Unclear; Subsidiary acquires natural gas pipelines; Increases dividend payout Link
21/10/2014 WAT Waters Corporation 9.87% Q3 earnings beat estimates, on strong pharmaceutical sales Link
22/10/2014 BRCM Broadcom Corporation 5.46% Q3 earnings & revenue beat analyst estimates; re-affirm guidance for Q4 Link
23/10/2014 TSCO Tractor Supply Company 15.82% Q3 earnings & revenue beat analyst estimates; increases guidance for Q4 Link
24/10/2014 EW Edwards Life-sciences 11.00% Q3 earnings beat analyst estimates & full-year guidance figures raised Link
27/10/2014 MU Micron Technology 3.99% CFO announces $1B stock re-purchase program Link
28/10/2014 AN AutoNation Inc 6.91% Analyst ratings raised, on strong Q3 results & car sales Link
29/10/2014 NFX Newfield Exploration Co 10.89% Q3 income and revenue beat analyst estimates Link
30/10/2014 VTR Ventas Inc 10.24% Unclear; Positive media coverage Link
31/10/2014 EMN Eastman Chemical 6.61% Q3 earnings & profit beat analyst estimates; Raises Q4 expectations Link

November 2014

3/11/2014 TSO Tesoro Petroleum Co. 2.63% Tesoro — Positive analyst commentary & price target increase on strong Q3 results Link
4/11/2014 ADM Archer-Daniels-Midland Co 4.85% Q3 profit & earnings beat analyst estimates on strong ethanol demand Link
5/11/2014 DVN Devon Energy Corp. 10.00% Positive analyst commentary following strong Q3 results & raises guidance figures Link
6/11/2014 WFM Whole Foods Market 12.15% Price target raised by analysts, followed by Q4 results announcement Link
7/11/2014 MNST Monster Beverage 7.87% Positive analyst commentary & price target increase following strong Q3 earnings Link
10/11/2014 ABBV AbbVie 3.72% Merck announces unsatisfactory drug trial results for Hepatitis C Link
11/11/2014 ZTS Zoetis 8.86% Bill Ackman’s Pershing Square Capital discloses stake in Zoetis Link
12/11/2014 FOSL Fossil, Inc. 8.41% Better-than-expected Q3 earnings; renewed partnership with Kors Link
13/11/2014 BHI Baker Hughes Inc 15.24% Acquisition talks underway with rival Haliburton Link
14/11/2014 NEM Newmont Mining Corp. (Hldg. Co.) 4.99% Spike in spot and future prices of Gold Link
17/11/2014 BHI Baker Hughes Inc 8.92% Haliburton announces definite agreement to acquire BHI Link
18/11/2014 ACT Actavis plc 8.74% Announces plans to acquire Allergan Link
19/11/2014 MAC Macerich 9.59% Speculation over increase in Simon Property Group’s stake in MAC Link
20/11/2014 URBN Urban Outfitters 7.04% Unclear; Ongoing stock rally in the retail sector Link
21/11/2014 ROST Ross Stores 7.32% Analysts increase price target following strong Q3 results Link
24/11/2014 URBN Urban Outfitters 5.37% Anticipation of the holiday shopping season Link
25/11/2014 PLL Pall Corp. 3.50% Q1 earnings beat analyst estimates; Re-iterates guidance figures Link
26/11/2014 ADI Analog Devices, Inc. 5.51% Q4 earnings beat analyst estimates & issues positive guidance Link
28/11/2014 LUV Southwest Airlines 6.47% Positive analyst commentary & ratings upgrade Link

December 2014

1/12/2014 NEM Newmont Mining Corp. (Hldg. Co.) 6.85% Dead cat bounce, following positve analyst coverage Link
2/12/2014 TRIP TripAdvisor 7.92% CEO, Stephen Kaufer, discloses stake Link
3/12/2014 BIIB BIOGEN IDEC Inc. 5.81% Azheimer drug fast-tracked to Phase III trials Link
4/12/2014 AVGO Avago Technologies 8.35% Analysts rise price targets following strong Q4 earnings Link
5/12/2014 THC Tenet Healthcare Corp. 6.96% Former Pfizer VP appointed as independent director Link
8/12/2014 CELG Celgene Corp. 3.56% Positive analyst commentary following ASH conference Link
9/12/2014 DO Diamond Offshore Drilling 8.05% Loews discloses increased stake in DO in SEC filing Link
10/12/2014 GMCR Keurig Green Mountain 3.95% Insider buying by Director John Hayes Link
11/12/2014 SPLS Staples Inc. 8.67% Activist investor, Starboard Value discloses stake in SPLS & ODP Link
12/12/2014 ADBE Adobe Systems Inc 9.00% Purchases photography company, Fotolia, on top of strong Q4 results Link
15/12/2014 DO Diamond Offshore Drilling 5.60% Unclear; Ongoing rally Link
16/12/2014 DNR Denbury Resources Inc. 7.26% KLR Group analysts upgrade rating from ‘Accumulate’ to ‘Buy’ Link
17/12/2014 NBL Noble Energy Inc 10.06% Rebound in energy sector stocks, due to surge in oil prices Link
18/12/2014 ORCL Oracle Corp. 10.18% Positive commentary, as Q3 earnings & revenue beat estimates Link
19/12/2014 NBR Nabors Industries Ltd. 14.63% Rally in US crude oil futures Link
22/12/2014 PCLN Priceline.com Inc 3.60% Cantor Fitzergald analyst re-iterate ‘Buy’ rating Link
23/12/2014 CHK Chesapeake Energy 10.15% Announces $1 billion share re-purchase plan Link
24/12/2014 CELG Celgene Corp. 3.28% Unclear; Recovery following broad sell-off on 23-Dec Link
26/12/2014 CELG Celgene Corp. 3.42% Biotech stocks in rebound, after taking a beating earlier in the week Link
29/12/2014 GILD Gilead Sciences 3.74% Announces extension of partnership with Janssen R&D Ireland Link
30/12/2014 NEM Newmont Mining Corp. (Hldg. Co.) 3.60% Increase in gold future prices drives gold and mining stocks up Link
31/12/2014 QEP QEP Resources 2.64% Zacks upgrades rating & price target to ‘Outperform’ Link