3 Tech Stocks That

Soared This Week

These 3 tech tickers beat the market, June 16 – June 20

Fuel cell power systems builder Plug Power gained 17% in 5 days.

Image source: Plug Power.

The big move:

Plug Power shares actually jumped 18% on Wednesday alone.

The rest of the week was kind of a wash.

But why did the stock jump, mid-week? • The entire fuel cell industry soared on

Wednesday – not just Plug Power.

• Analyst firm Jennings Capital started coverage on Plug Power supplier Ballard Power Systems.

• Jennings tagged Ballard with a “buy” rating and a $4 price target. That stock traded at $3.50 at the time.

• Of course, Ballard shares immediately rose above Jennings’ price target, but major Ballard customer Plug Power jumped even higher.

Plug Power jumps and drops easily • Last week, Plug Power was on my list of the tech sector’s biggest

crashes. This time, it’s up on the biggest winners rundown.

• The stock is up 210% year-to-date and a staggering 1,042% over the last year.

• It’s also down 59% from yearly highs that were set in March.

• Plug Power shares are a day trader’s plaything at this point. Share prices can double or drop by half in a couple of weeks – and there’s no telling which way it’s going next.

• If fuel cells hit the mainstream, Plug Power will make you rich in the long run.

• If not, you may very well lose your entire Plug Power investment.

The big Plug Power takeaway:

Be careful out there!

Image source: Plug Power.

Smartphone maker BlackBerry jumped 24%.

BlackBerry’s catalyst: • BlackBerry’s rocket fuel? A classic beat-and-raise first-quarter

earnings report.

• The Canadian company is hardly selling any smartphones these days, but makes up for that problem with software sales and cost-cutting.

• BlackBerry hopes to report breakeven cash flows in the recently started 2015 fiscal year.

• CEO John Chen’s turnaround plan is working, but there’s much work left to do.

Finally, Nuance Communications gained 14%. The big push happened on Monday.

What happened on Monday?

• The huge spike came from a Wall Street Journal article, published near noon.

• Citing anonymous insiders, the WSJ said that Nuance is talking to potential buyout partners.

• Samsung might buy the speech recognition software expert, or private equity firms might pick it up.

The Apple factor

• Samsung buying Nuance would be uncomfortable for Apple, which uses Nuance software in its popular Siri voice assistant feature.

• Apple and Samsung are locking horns in courtrooms across the world, fighting billion-dollar battles over smartphone patents.

• Making Apple depend on yet another Samsung-owned technology against that backdrop? Awkward.

• That being said, rumor has it that there’s a ceasefire in the works. If so, Samsung owning Siri’s brain would be just another, totally normal, business relationship.

The man behind the curtain • Selling Nuance to the highest bidder would hardly be a shock.

• Consider that corporate raider Carl Icahn owns 19% of

Nuance’s shares, making him the company’s largest shareholder.

• Icahn builds large stakes like this one to force big changes. Looking for a buyout exit is one of his favorite tactics.

• So the Icahn factor plays in favor of a real buyout deal right now.

• However, Nuance has neither confirmed nor denied any of this. Until further notice, Nuance shares are riding about 14% higher on a plausible rumor.

Apple hopes to sell millions of iWatches…

but not without this small-cap components supplier.