Midday Watchlist: Promising Upcoming IPOs & $10 Movers

Stocks surged on Monday as investors anticipated a wave of megacap tech earnings that could propel the Nasdaq Composite to new highs this week. Risk sentiment also improved after Israel's weekend airstrikes against Iran avoided oil and nuclear facilities, easing geopolitical tensions. As a result, oil futures sold off, with U.S. crude prices dropping 6% and Brent crude following suit.

As of 11:55 AM ET, the Dow was up 251.7 points, or 0.6%, at $42366.11. The Nasdaq Composite added 41.3398 points, or 0.2031%, at $20393.355. The S&P 500 rose 19.69 points, or 0.34%, at $5827.8. Among the 11 major S&P 500 sectors, 6 showed negative movement, with Communication Services leading the way with a -1.27% decrease.

This week is pivotal for the markets, marking the busiest stretch of third-quarter earnings season and the final week before the November 5 U.S. presidential election and the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting on November 7. Five of the "Magnificent Seven" tech giants—Alphabet, Microsoft, Meta Platforms, Amazon, and Apple—are set to release their earnings. On Monday, Apple shares rose 0.6% while Alphabet climbed 1%.

Traders are also keeping a close eye on key economic data this week, including a preliminary reading on third-quarter GDP due Wednesday, the September PCE price index expected Thursday, and the crucial September jobs report on Friday.

Top Movers: Under $10

Monte Rosa Therapeutics Inc (GLUE) is up 66.56% today to trade at the current level of $8.15. This comes after the company announced global license agreement with Novartis to advance T and B cell-modulating VAV1-directed Molecular Glue Degraders.

Evoke Pharma Inc (EVOK) zoomed 65.09% in today’s trade to $8.75. The company announced the presentation of data for GLP-1 users with diabetic gastroparesis using GIMOTI at the American College of Gastroenterology (ACG) 2024 Annual Meeting.

In current trading, Porch Group Inc (PRCH) stock is at $1.84 after announcing the Texas Department of Insurance has approved its application to form and license Porch Insurance Reciprocal Exchange, a new homeowners insurance reciprocal exchange.

Global Mofy AI Ltd. (GMM) rose 42.96% in the early hours of today's trading to move at $0.50. The company’s its generative AI product Gausspeed was invited to present and share technical insights at the dedicated NVIDIA forum during the 2024 China National Computer Congress (CNCC2024), held in Hengdian, Zhejiang.

In the current trading session, Lightbridge Corp (LTBR) jumped 22.26% to $8.99 over a previous close of $7.35 after sharing insightful findings from three technical papers presented at the TopFuel 2024 Conference in Grenoble, France.

Ex-Dividends Stocks

Alcoa Corp (AA) is about to trade ex-dividend tomorrow, meaning that investors who buy the stock after tomorrow will not be eligible for the next dividend payment. The company's next dividend payment will be $0.1 per share. It has fixed October 29 as the record date for the same and will pay the actual dividend on November 15. Last year, the company distributed a total of $0.40 to its shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, AA has a trailing yield of 0.98% on the current stock price of $40.70.

Shares of ASML Holding NV (ASML) will be the talk of stock market on Tuesday as the stock will turn ex-dividend. The company's next dividend payment will be $1.41 per share, and in the last 12 months, it paid a total of $6.60 per share. Last year's total dividend payments show that ASML has a trailing yield of 0.93% on the current share price of $708.57.

Tomorrow, Infosys Ltd ADR (INFY) is also set to go ex-dividend tomorrow. The next dividend payment from INFY will amount to $0.21 per share. October 29 has been designated as the record date for this dividend. In the previous year, INFY distributed a total of $0.34 to its valued shareholders. Considering the cumulative dividend payments from last year, the trailing yield for INFY stands at 1.51% based on the current stock price of $22.12.

Levi Strauss & Co. (LEVI) will be paying out a dividend of $0.13 per share to shareholders holding their shares as of the close of the business hours on the record date of October 29. Over the past 12 months, LEVI has paid out a total of $0.49 per share in dividends. Based on the total dividends paid out last year, LEVI boasts an impressive trailing yield of 2.76% on the current share price of $17.75.

Crypto Market Highlights

• Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing has introduced a new digital asset index series for real-time data on digital assets in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Infinex's NFT collection, Patrons, has achieved over $67.7 million in investments within six weeks, supported by Founders Fund co-founded by Peter Thiel, despite a broader NFT market downturn.

• Gelato raised $11 million in a Series A+ funding round led by Hack VC, with Kraken’s Ink blockchain set to join as a customer, enabling platform expansion for blockchain applications.

• Alchemy Pay plans to launch a layer-1 blockchain called Alchemy Chain to meet the growing needs of its business operations.

• Ethereum-based synthetic dollar protocol Ethena Labs is facing allegations of participating in a recent crypto-farming event involving 180 million Ethena tokens.

Most Shorted Stocks

Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc (FFIE) was one of the most shorted stocks as of latest short interest figures, with 41.88% short interest. The days to cover ratio, a measure of how long it would take for all the short positions to be covered based on average trading volume, is 0.5. This represents a change of 350000 shares, which corresponds to a +8.01% increase in short interest. The total value of the shares held short is estimated to be around $10.15 million. The average daily volume stands at 10.65M shares, and the market capitalization of the company is $23.73M.

The Medical Properties Trust Inc with the symbol MPW currently has a short interest of 39.55%. The short interest has changed by 2920000 shares. The days to cover ratio stands at 17.2. The estimated value of the shares held short is approximately $1.01 billion. On an average day, 12.60M shares are traded, with the company's market capitalization totaling $2.77B.

For the stock Phathom Pharmaceuticals Inc (PHAT), the current short interest is at 30.00%. This represents a significant short interest change of 340000 shares, corresponding to a short interest percentage increase of +1.97%. The days needed to cover the short positions amount to 18.5. The approximate worth of the shares held short is $297.47 million.

With the symbol SAVA, the stock currently has a short interest of 39.47%. The short interest change is 1310000 shares, compared with a short interest percentage change of +7.43%. It would take approximately 7.2 days to cover all the short positions. The shares short value is estimated to be around $471.13 million. The company boasts an average daily volume of 2.61M shares, contributing to a market capitalization of $1.29B.

The stock GRPN has a current short interest of 44.03%. The short interest percentage has experienced increase of +6.68% while there was a change of 580000 shares in short interest. The ratio indicating the time required to cover short positions is 6.9. The calculated worth of the shorted shares amounts to around $196.41 million. Trading activity averages at 1.34M shares per day, while the company's market capitalization stands at $412.10M.

Upcoming IPOs

Gelteq Limited (GELS) is all set for its debut on the NASDAQ exchange on October 22. The shares will be offered at a fixed price of $5.00 per share. With a total of 1,300,000 shares available, the company aims to raise approximately $6.50M through this IPO.

Peak Resources LP (PRB) will be entering the market with its IPO on October 22, on the NASDAQ exchange. They are offering shares in the price range of $13.00 to $15.00. They plan to offer 4,700,000 shares, targeting a deal size of $65.80M.