Free Annual Reports
Nasdaq Stocks, Including Baidu, Making Big Moves on August 21, 2012
After this morning's trading, the Nasdaq remains relatively unchanged, the S&P 500 has moved up 0.3% and the Dow has increased 0.2%. The recent surge in popularity of technological stocks has launched the Nasdaq Composite Index into the spotlight, making it one of the premier indexes in the world.
The biggest movers traded on the NASDAQ so far are:
Forex Broker Summary: UFXMarkets
Urban Outfitters, Inc (Nasdaq:URBN) rose a significant 18.3% to reach $37 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 13.5 million shares. A stock's volume conveys how excited investors are about it. Understanding investment valuation ratios allows an investor to assess the true value of an individual stock. While measuring a price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio) is a popular valuation technique, the measure cannot be calculated for companies without earnings, so some investors analyze the price/sales ratio. The P/S ratio for URBN is a high 1.67. This could be a good sign if the share price increases. All things being equal, a low P/S ratio is good news for investors, while a very high one can be a warning sign.
After a big jump of 12.7%, Nordson (Nasdaq:NDSN) is trading at $61.96 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 1.2 million shares, 4.7 times the average volume over the last three months. Price change alone is not enough to know how a stock is doing. Volume is an important secondary indicator used to confirm trends suggested by price movement. While investment valuation ratios are useful tools in estimating the attractiveness of an investment, remember that it is important to look at a company's historical performance and compare the company ratios with its competitors and industry overall. The debt ratio gives users a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. NDSN has a debt ratio of 56.8%. As with all financial ratios, a company's debt ratio should be compared with the industry average or similar companies.
Falling 6.1%, Raven Industries (Nasdaq:RAVN) is currently at a share price of $30.16. This morning, the company's volume is 258,211 shares. This is 2.7 times its current daily average. If a stock price makes a big move up or down, volume lets us know the significance of that move. Investment valuation ratios can be very useful in determining the value of a stock, but it is very important to keep in mind that while some financial ratios have general rules (or a broad application), in most instances it is a prudent practice to look at a company's historical performance and use peer company/industry comparisons to put any given company's ratio in perspective. A simple P/E ratio can reveal the stock's real market value and show how the valuation compares to its industry group or a benchmark like the S&P 500 Index. RAVN has a P/E ratio of 22.4, high compared to the industry average of 13.45. A company with a high P/E ratio will eventually have to live up to the high rating by substantially increasing its earnings, or the price will need to drop. A high P/E ratio indicates a stock that is expensive, while a low P/E ratio indicates a stock that is cheap. SEE: Profit With The Power Of Price-To-Earnings
Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ONXX) is at $71.45 per share after an increase of 5.4%. The company's volume is currently 791,585 shares for the day,. Volume is an important indicator in technical analysis as it is used to measure the worth of a market move. If the markets have made a strong price move either up or down the perceived strength of that move depends on the volume for that period. The higher the volume during that price move the more significant the move. Investment valuation ratios can be very useful in estimating whether a stock price is too high, reasonable or a bargain investment opportunity. The debt-equity (D/E) ratio compares the total liabilities for a company to its total shareholder equity. ONXX has a low debt-equity ratio of 24%. This shows that the company's assets are financed primarily through equity. The D/E ratio percentage provides a much more dramatic perspective on a company's leverage position than the debt ratio percentage.
Slipping 4.9%, Tech (Nasdaq:TECD) is currently trading at $49.58 per share. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 698,522 shares. If a stock price moves on high volume, this means that the change is a significant one. Valuation ratios include the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. The capitalization ratio measures the debt component of the capital structure, or capitalization of a company (i.e., the sum of long-term debt liabilities and shareholder equity) to support operations and growth. The capitalizion ratio of 2.8% is on the low end. Investors generally consider a company with low debt and high equity levels is a good quality investment. Prudent use of leverage (debt) increases the financial resources available to a company for growth and expansion.
After a decline of 4.6%, Baidu (Nasdaq:BIDU) has hit a share price of $124.90. At 5.1 million shares, the company's volume so far today is 1.7 times its average over the past three months. Volume indicates the level of interest that investors have in a company at its current price. A company's value as an investment is more easily estimated using valuation ratios such as the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. When used consistently and uniformly, the price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio is an essential tool that adds dimension to the price/earnings ratio, allows comparisons across diverse industries and is always on the lookout for value. PEG ratio for BIDU is 1.12. Because of the adjustment for earnings growth rate, the PEG ratio is somewhat more useful than many formulas for comparing companies in different industries.
After an increase of 4.6%, EV Energy Partners (Nasdaq:EVEP) has reached a current price of $57.03. The company's volume for the day so far is 375,491 shares. This is one times the average daily volume. When a stock price moves up or down, watching the volume is a good way of identifying how significant that shift is. Investors can use valuation ratios as tools to estimate what kind of deal a particular investment is. The price/book value ratio, often expressed simply as "price-to-book", provides investors a way to compare the market value, or what they are paying for each share, to a conservative measure of the value of the firm. EVEP has a P/B ratio of 2.05 which shows that its share price is higher than its book value. It is important to take the company's debt into account when using the P/B ratio as debt can boost a company's liabilities to the point where they wipe out much of the book value of its hard assets, creating artificially high P/B values. One problem with the P/B value ratio is that it can be difficult to calculate the true book value of a company, so investors should be aware that many measures of book value may provide only a rough estimate, and should be taken with a grain of salt. SEE: How Buybacks Warps The Price-To-Book Ratio
The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Paying close attention to the previous ratios will help you identify key times to adjust your strategy. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.
The biggest movers traded on the NASDAQ so far are:
| Company | Market Cap | Percentage Change |
| Urban Outfitters, Inc (Nasdaq:URBN) | $4.53 billion | +18.3% |
| Nordson (Nasdaq:NDSN) | $3.54 billion | +12.7% |
| Raven Industries (Nasdaq:RAVN) | $1.16 billion | -6.1% |
| Onyx Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:ONXX) | $4.41 billion | +5.4% |
| Tech (Nasdaq:TECD) | $2.08 billion | -4.9% |
| Baidu (Nasdaq:BIDU) | $45.74 billion | -4.6% |
| EV Energy Partners (Nasdaq:EVEP) | $2.31 billion | +4.6% |
Urban Outfitters, Inc (Nasdaq:URBN) rose a significant 18.3% to reach $37 per share. The company's volume for the day so far is 13.5 million shares. A stock's volume conveys how excited investors are about it. Understanding investment valuation ratios allows an investor to assess the true value of an individual stock. While measuring a price/earnings ratio (P/E ratio) is a popular valuation technique, the measure cannot be calculated for companies without earnings, so some investors analyze the price/sales ratio. The P/S ratio for URBN is a high 1.67. This could be a good sign if the share price increases. All things being equal, a low P/S ratio is good news for investors, while a very high one can be a warning sign.
After a big jump of 12.7%, Nordson (Nasdaq:NDSN) is trading at $61.96 per share. So far today, the company's volume is 1.2 million shares, 4.7 times the average volume over the last three months. Price change alone is not enough to know how a stock is doing. Volume is an important secondary indicator used to confirm trends suggested by price movement. While investment valuation ratios are useful tools in estimating the attractiveness of an investment, remember that it is important to look at a company's historical performance and compare the company ratios with its competitors and industry overall. The debt ratio gives users a quick measure of the amount of debt that the company has on its balance sheets compared to its assets. NDSN has a debt ratio of 56.8%. As with all financial ratios, a company's debt ratio should be compared with the industry average or similar companies.
Falling 6.1%, Raven Industries (Nasdaq:RAVN) is currently at a share price of $30.16. This morning, the company's volume is 258,211 shares. This is 2.7 times its current daily average. If a stock price makes a big move up or down, volume lets us know the significance of that move. Investment valuation ratios can be very useful in determining the value of a stock, but it is very important to keep in mind that while some financial ratios have general rules (or a broad application), in most instances it is a prudent practice to look at a company's historical performance and use peer company/industry comparisons to put any given company's ratio in perspective. A simple P/E ratio can reveal the stock's real market value and show how the valuation compares to its industry group or a benchmark like the S&P 500 Index. RAVN has a P/E ratio of 22.4, high compared to the industry average of 13.45. A company with a high P/E ratio will eventually have to live up to the high rating by substantially increasing its earnings, or the price will need to drop. A high P/E ratio indicates a stock that is expensive, while a low P/E ratio indicates a stock that is cheap. SEE: Profit With The Power Of Price-To-Earnings
Slipping 4.9%, Tech (Nasdaq:TECD) is currently trading at $49.58 per share. This morning, the company is trading a volume of 698,522 shares. If a stock price moves on high volume, this means that the change is a significant one. Valuation ratios include the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. The capitalization ratio measures the debt component of the capital structure, or capitalization of a company (i.e., the sum of long-term debt liabilities and shareholder equity) to support operations and growth. The capitalizion ratio of 2.8% is on the low end. Investors generally consider a company with low debt and high equity levels is a good quality investment. Prudent use of leverage (debt) increases the financial resources available to a company for growth and expansion.
After a decline of 4.6%, Baidu (Nasdaq:BIDU) has hit a share price of $124.90. At 5.1 million shares, the company's volume so far today is 1.7 times its average over the past three months. Volume indicates the level of interest that investors have in a company at its current price. A company's value as an investment is more easily estimated using valuation ratios such as the price to earnings (P/E) ratio, the price to earnings growth (PEG) ratio, the price to sales (P/S) ratio, the price to book (P/B) ratio, and the dividend yield. When used consistently and uniformly, the price/earnings to growth (PEG) ratio is an essential tool that adds dimension to the price/earnings ratio, allows comparisons across diverse industries and is always on the lookout for value. PEG ratio for BIDU is 1.12. Because of the adjustment for earnings growth rate, the PEG ratio is somewhat more useful than many formulas for comparing companies in different industries.
After an increase of 4.6%, EV Energy Partners (Nasdaq:EVEP) has reached a current price of $57.03. The company's volume for the day so far is 375,491 shares. This is one times the average daily volume. When a stock price moves up or down, watching the volume is a good way of identifying how significant that shift is. Investors can use valuation ratios as tools to estimate what kind of deal a particular investment is. The price/book value ratio, often expressed simply as "price-to-book", provides investors a way to compare the market value, or what they are paying for each share, to a conservative measure of the value of the firm. EVEP has a P/B ratio of 2.05 which shows that its share price is higher than its book value. It is important to take the company's debt into account when using the P/B ratio as debt can boost a company's liabilities to the point where they wipe out much of the book value of its hard assets, creating artificially high P/B values. One problem with the P/B value ratio is that it can be difficult to calculate the true book value of a company, so investors should be aware that many measures of book value may provide only a rough estimate, and should be taken with a grain of salt. SEE: How Buybacks Warps The Price-To-Book Ratio
The Bottom Line No matter the economic climate, Wall Street will always have stocks that make major moves each week. Paying close attention to the previous ratios will help you identify key times to adjust your strategy. Tools like valuation ratios and profit margins, however, are only as useful as the context you put them in; remember to take historical data and competitor performance into account.
by
Investopedia Staff
Investopedia.com believes that individuals can excel at managing their financial affairs. As such, we strive to provide free educational content and tools to empower individual investors, including thousands of original and objective articles and tutorials on a wide variety of financial topics.
Free Annual Reports
