5i Research Weekly Rockets and Duds

The Winter Olympics are filled with heroes and goats, but the stock market is filled with ROCKETS AND DUDS. Last week, we counted 20 companies (more than $2 billion) whose stock went up more than 30%, and more than 30 stocks whose stock fell by more than 20%. Here we go: 

 

Fastly Inc. FSLY   How to win in Olympic speed skating: GO FAST. How to win in the stock market: GO FASTLY. Fastly shares rose a stunning 113% last week as AI traffic boosted demand for its cloud and streaming services, resulting in blow out results. There are earnings 'beats' and earnings 'nukes'. FSLY's earnings beat analysts' estimates by 107% with the stock very nearly gaining the exact same amount. Who says markets are not efficient?

Kyndryl Holdings KD  'Kyndryl' is not actually a word, but it might soon become one, in such contexts as "boy did I ever get Kyndryled on that stock I bought'. Kyndryl had the trifecta of bad news last week, and the stock fell 48%. It announced a) weak guidance b) issues with compliance and cash management and c) massive executive departures, including the CEO. The company provides applications, data, AI, cloud core enterprise and other services for a wide range of clients. Shares are down 70% in the past year and 66% in the past decade. 

IPG Photonics Corporation IPGP   "Set photon phasars to MONEY!" IPG, which makes high powered fiber lasers and amplifiers, rose 40% last week on strong earnings and a strong outlook. Shares are now up 115% in 2026, and 142% over one year. Investors are continuing to look for companies that are not going to get killed by AI, and we guess lasars qualify. We guess the stock is attractive, that is, until the robots revolt and use photon lasers in the war against humans. But that's not going to happen this week. Right????

Tri Pointe Homes Inc. TPH   What's the opposite of a software stock? How about a home builder stock? Software refugees last week looked far and wide for anything that wasn't a software stock. Japan took this to a whole new level though as Sumintomo Forestry just decided to buy a whole company. Tri Pointe received a $47-per share cash offer from the Japanese conglomerate. Shares rose 31% on the news. 

 

Monday.com MNDY   Even though we got Family Day Monday off as a holiday this week, there are still plenty of reasons to hate Monday. MNDY shares added to their woes last week, with a 26% loss, bringing their one-year loss to 77%. Yep, you guessed it, it is a software company. Weak results, lawsuits and multiple broker downgrades added to general software paranoia and the shares keep falling. Would a name change help here? Surprisingly, we found no public companies with the word 'FRIDAY' or 'WEEKEND' in their corporate names. So, we can't tell you if these would have outperformed 'MONDAY'. We did find a small public company that used to be named 'FRIDAY'S DOG' but we are pretty sure that's not a great name for a stock, either. It is now called Patriot Resource Corp.