Dow Up 200 Points This Week

By Paul Ausick Updated Apr 14, 3:51PM EDT · Published Jun 7, 9:17AM EDT

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained more than 200 points this past week and set a new all-time high of 16,924.30 on Friday before closing at 16,924.28. This is a good time to look at the leading gainers in the Dow and to try to determine where they are headed from here.

The stock trading furthest above its 52-week low is Boeing Co. (NYSE: BA), up nearly 44% from its 52-week low of $96.31 set late last June. Since starting the year at around $137, the shares are up only 0.1%. Boeing’s shares were hammered when it reported fourth-quarter results in late January and announced guidance that was softer than expected. Shares closed at $138.25 on Friday, yielding implied upside of about 11% to the consensus price target of around $154.

The Walt Disney Co. (NYSE: DIS) trades at nearly 40% above its 52-week low of $60.41 posted late last August. Disney’s shares rose 17% in the fourth quarter and have gained more than 11% since the beginning of the year. The consensus price target on the stock is about $88.50, which implies upside of about 4.7% from Friday’s closing price of $84.61. We noted in early May that the company was firing on all cylinders and nothing has changed since then.

3M Co. (NYSE: MMM) posted an all-time high of $144.64 on Friday right at the closing bell, up nearly 35% from its 52-week low of $107.15. The stock’s consensus price target is around $146.50, which does not leave much room for upside. Even though 3M fell a little short of expectations in the first quarter, the company has boosted its dividend to $0.855 per share and announced a $12 billion share buyback program in February. The company’s free cash flow has been around $4 billion in each of the past three years, and 3M has made a commitment to share the bounty with stockholders.

Software giant Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) closed about 34% above its 52-week low on Friday at $41.48, just pennies short of its 52-week high of $41.66. The consensus price target on the stock is around $41.90, although FBR Capital raised its price target on Thursday to $49. The company’s Xbox One sales have been strong and OEM software sales in its third fiscal quarter rose 4% on gross margins of more than 90% on its commercial license sales. Microsoft has released a version of its Office suite for the iPad and plans one soon for Android, according to a report at ZDNet. These moves toward playing well with others have really helped the stock.

Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT) also trades about 34% above its 52-week low and posted a new 52-week high on Friday of $108.36. The consensus price target on the stock is around $112, an implied upside of 3.7% to Friday’s closing price of $108.18. Caterpillar has managed somehow to convince investors (more likely is that investors have convinced themselves) that its poor April sales figures reflect pent-up demand that will soon be made manifest in a pile of new orders. We shall see.

ALSO READ: IPO Preview: Eight Offerings on Tap for Week of June 9

About the Author Paul Ausick →

Paul Ausick has been writing for a673b.bigscoots-temp.com for more than a decade. He has written extensively on investing in the energy, defense, and technology sectors. In a previous life, he wrote technical documentation and managed a marketing communications group in Silicon Valley.

He has a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Chicago and now lives in Montana, where he fishes for trout in the summer and stays inside during the winter.