Twitter(TWTR) soared 8.4% on new hopes that it will be successful in the ad business. Rising by over $5, the new stock has greatly surpassed its starting price of about $20 to reach $69.96 at market's close, making it one of the most successful IPOs of the year. Originally, investors feared another Facebook drop, especially since Twitter has no real earnings due to a lack of advertisements on its site, but those worries have long since disappeared. As the social media industry continues its exponential growth, there are high hopes on Twitter's ability to market ads to its approximately half-a-billion users. Also, with recent highlights from Snowden revealing the government's extensive involvement with larger internet corporations, Twitter has become a go-to company for privacy since it has avoided giving in to the government's demands.
Target(TGT) recently revealed its loss of 40 million credit card numbers to hackers. Though it faced no rapid drop due to these reports, it is down 15% from a high of $72 achieved in July of this year. Along with the credit card numbers, it lost emails and personal identification numbers. Forced to give discounts to its fearful consumer base and provide reassurance through outside services, this quarter may be very draining on their cash balance. The credit card numbers quickly appeared for sale on the black market, prompting many banks to extend their hours for the sake of their customers. Many groups have filed lawsuits against Target for one of the largest financial breaches in history.
Blackberry(BBRY) has been one of the worst performing stocks of 2013, but has managed to regain some ground, rising around 27% in the past three days. Hopes of Thorsten Heins' ability to revive the company brought shares to a two year high of $18 in the beginning of the year. As its new BB10 phones failed to impress, the company lost over $1 billion in the third quarter and fell to a low of $6 per share. As a series of takeover bids failed, the company's future looked grim to investors. In its most recent quarter, the company reported a $4.4 billion loss but was able to strike a deal with Foxconn. The Apple supplier entered into a 5 year deal with Blackberry to help design and produce a new line of phones for Blackberry targeted at the lower tier smartphone market in Indonesia. Its new CEO, John Chen, believes a recovery is very possible for the once-dominant smartphone maker, and many investors are confident as shown by its shares.
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