Investing.com's Hot Stocks This Week

Investing.com – U.S. stocks continued to decline on Friday, with the technology sector remaining weak, and better-than-expected producer inflation data dampening market sentiment.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all closed lower this week, with some significant volatility in individual stocks.

Here are this week’s popular stocks on Investing.com:

Netflix

Netflix shares surged over 12% on Friday after the company announced that, following Warner Bros. Discovery’s recognition of Paramount Sky’s latest proposal as a superior offer under its existing merger agreement with Netflix, it will not increase its acquisition bid for Warner Bros. Discovery.

As of 13:12 Eastern Time, Netflix was up 12.3%.

This news prompted Raymond James to downgrade Warner Bros. Discovery’s rating to “Underperform.”

“Netflix refused to raise its bid, effectively ending the bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery,” said analysts led by Ric Prentiss in a report.

“Since we do not expect any higher bids, Warner Bros. Discovery has now become a more traditional ‘arbitrage’ stock. We believe there are more attractive potential returns elsewhere within our coverage universe.”

Nvidia

Despite reporting strong quarterly earnings, Nvidia’s stock fell over 5% on Thursday and another 3.1% on Friday. The stock has declined about 3.9% over the past week.

Investors are reportedly concerned that the company is allocating capital to develop its AI ecosystem, but returns remain uncertain.

“Why is this stock underperforming despite strong earnings and upward guidance?” asked Goldman Sachs analysts. “The ‘good news is priced in,’ profit-taking, market rotation after several quarters of buying semiconductors and selling software stocks.”

“Another reason — and perhaps the more likely one — is the current concern about capital expenditures by hyperscale cloud service providers, not just how much they are spending but also the sustainability of the spending growth, and whether there’s a ‘this can’t be real’ feeling when it comes to Nvidia,” they added.

Block

Block shares soared over 15% on Friday, up about 20% over the past week, after the payments company announced it would cut nearly half of its workforce as part of its efforts to embed AI more deeply into its operations.

The layoffs are expected to eliminate over 4,000 jobs, amid broader shifts in employment as companies increasingly turn AI advancements into wider workforce changes.

Dell Technologies

Dell’s stock surged over 21% on Friday following its latest quarterly results. The stock has risen about 25% over the past week.

The company reported better-than-expected Q4 earnings, benefiting from accelerated enterprise adoption of AI infrastructure.

Following the earnings release, JPMorgan analyst Samik Chatterjee raised Dell’s target price from $155 to $165, maintaining an “Overweight” rating.

“We are more optimistic about the AI-driven computing investment cycle, which should benefit server brands, although other drivers are more complex and influenced by macro factors,” the analyst explained.

“While Dell is unlikely to be seen as the primary beneficiary of the AI investment cycle, we expect all server companies to benefit,” he added. “We believe the upside for Dell’s stock comes from considering its leverage to AI investments, assigning a higher target multiple relative to its historical average, and the strong rebound in PCs and AI personal computer adoption could further support our outlook.”

CoreWeave

Meanwhile, CoreWeave plummeted after its quarterly earnings report, falling about 20% today and roughly 16.5% over the past week.

Although the company’s revenue exceeded expectations, its reported Q4 loss widened, and adjusted operating profit margins were well below forecasts.

“While CoreWeave’s revenue slightly beat expectations ($1.57 billion vs. $1.55 billion consensus), the narrative was dominated by a significant miss on adjusted operating margins (5.6% vs. 8.6% consensus), driven by a surge in capital expenditures well above guidance,” said Ruben Roy, an analyst at Stifel, in a reaction report.

The company lowered its target price for CoreWeave from $120 to $110, while maintaining a “Hold” rating.

This article was translated with the assistance of artificial intelligence. For more information, see our Terms of Use.