Why Traders Are Talking About These 5 Stocks Today

Page 2 of 2

Analysts Give Thumbs Up to Dicks Sporting Goods 

Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE:DKS) is 2.7% in the green today after analysts at RBC Capital upgraded the stock to ‘Outperform’ from ‘Sector Perform’, citing the potential of market share gains after competitor Sports Authority declared bankruptcy. The analysts also raised their price target to $56 from the previous $41 per share mark. RBC analyst Scot Ciccarelli said:

“In our view, the TSA [The Sports Authority] liquidation process will prove to be less disruptive in 2Q and 3Q than expected and management seems increasingly confident that they can capitalize on the ~$2.7 billion of orphaned sales in 2017.”

Of the 766 active funds that we track, 35 funds owned positions in Dicks Sporting Goods Inc (NYSE:DKS) valued at $508.62 million on March 31, a sharp increase from 26 funds holding $341.55 million in positions on December 31.

Follow Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (NYSE:DKS)

Tech Giants Watch the Pokemon Go Craze

Although they didn’t produce the cultural phenomenon that is Pokemon Go, Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) could certainly benefit from the trend. Pokemon Go is an augmented reality game that has caught fire since its introduction a few days ago, with the game already garnering more daily active Android users in the United States than Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR). The success of the game has lifted partial owner Nintendo’s market cap by almost 50% and has created a growing belief among investors that augmented reality and virtual reality products will eventually become as mainstream as cell phones or PCs.

Follow Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

Given the success of the augmented reality game, traders are increasingly looking toward Microsoft’s introduction of its HoloLens product, and Google’s virtual reality initiatives. Google was an incubator of Niantic Labs, the firm that programmed much of Pokemon Go. Andreas Halvorsen‘s Viking Global reported a holding of more than 2.05 million class A shares of Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) as of the most recent 13F reporting period. Meanwhile, the number of funds in our system with holdings in Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) rose by four quarter-over-quarter to 144 as of the end of March.

Follow Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)

Disclosure: None

Page 2 of 2