It has been an extremely slow week when it comes to markets, but we have managed to find a few stocks that make our top stocks list this week: Micron, Palantir (NASDAQ:PLTR) and crypto stocks.
Micron Technology
Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) shares make it onto the list for the second time in a row.
Last week it tumbled more than 16% last week Thursday after the company reported its latest quarterly earnings, with its outlook disappointing investors.
Despite initially posting a modest gain on Tuesday, the stock managed to edge around 0.1% lower before the Christmas holiday after the Biden administration launched a new trade investigation into Chinese-made legacy semiconductors.
The investigation is said to be aimed at protecting U.S. semiconductor producers from China’s state-driven expansion of its chip industry, which has enabled Chinese companies to offer chips at artificially lower prices.
Meanwhile, Barclays (LON:BARC) recently lowered the price target on Micron to $110 from $145, maintaining an Overweight rating on the stock.
Palantir
Despite the slow week, Palantir’s stock has experienced some movement. After a more than 2% gain in Tuesday’s session, the stock pulled back slightly on Thursday, and as of 09:40 am ET on Friday, it is down over 3%.
Even so, in a note to clients Thursday, analysts at Wedbush said they believe the company has a “credible path to morph into the next Oracle (NYSE:ORCL) over the coming decade.”
“With AI spending expected to ramp significantly within IT budgets in 2025, we believe the Messi of AI Palantir is in a prime spot to continue expanding its pipeline/deal flow,” added the firm.
They believe that it will provide more use cases “to address critical problems across industries and empower data-driven decision-making with a comprehensive suite of AI/ML solutions.”
Crypto Stocks
Last week, MicroStrategy and Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) were on the list after Bitcoin climbed to over $108,000 and then pulled back.
This week, crypto stocks, in general, make the list as the leading cryptocurrency now sits well below the $100,000 mark.
Bitcoin rose over 4% on Tuesday and gained around 0.8% on Christmas day before a 3.7% decline on Thursday. At the time of writing, it is trading at around $95,050, down around 0.3% on Friday.
The recent decline has weighed on crypto stocks such as COIN, MSTR, Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD), Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT), and CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK), which all declined shortly after the open on Friday.