Dow Up 200 Points This Week

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.

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