Why Are These Stocks Gaining Ground on Tuesday?

Analyst Upgrades Square 

Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) is 5.5% in the green today after analysts at Stifel Nicolaus upgraded the payment processor to ‘Buy’ from ‘Hold’ and lifted their price target to $15 per share. The analysts cited Square’s stronger-than-anticipated sales growth and the large size of Square’s total addressable market as reasons behind the upgrade. The analysts also like Square’s traction among large merchants and the ongoing tailwind of more electronic payments by consumers. The number of investors from our database long Square Inc (NYSE:SQ) rose by two to 16 during the second quarter.

American Woodmark Rises on Earnings Beat

Also trading higher today is American Woodmark Corporation (NASDAQ:AMWD), which earned $1.26 per share on revenue of $258.15 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2017 (ended July 31), beating the bottom-line expectations by $0.33 per share and missing the top-line consensus estimate by $4.56 million. Gross margin rose to 23% from 21.7% year-on-year, while the company generated net cash from operating activities of $32.9 million, versus $17.7 million a year earlier. Billionaire Jim Simons’ Renaissance Technologies held 707,701 shares of American Woodmark Corporation at the end of June.

Nordson Rises on Earnings

Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN)’s shares have spiked by 8% after the company reported strong results for the fiscal third quarter. During the quarter, Nordson earned $1.47 per share on sales of $489.9 million, beating the consensus estimates by $0.14 per share and $10.15 million, respectively. Sales advanced by 5.9% year-over-year as organic revenue inched up by 4% and pro-forma 12-week order rates increased by 16%. Backlog for the quarter ended July 31 was $333 million, an increase of 22% from the same period of the last year. Outlook is strong, with Nordson’s management expecting diluted earnings per share of $1.15 to $1.27 for the fiscal fourth quarter. At the end of the second quarter, 22 funds tracked by Insider Monkey owned shares of Nordson Corporation (NASDAQ:NDSN), up by seven over the quarter.

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