Connect with us

Published

on

The S&P 500 index, which is tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY , posted a gain of 6.2% in the first quarter of 2023, while technology stocks in the Nasdaq 100 index, which is tracked by the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ , fared much better by posting a20% increasein the quarter, also marking the third-best quarterly performance since the dot-com boom in 2001.

Which U.S.stocks have performed the best so far in 2023? And what kind of upside potential do they still offer in the following quarters? Is the Wall Street analyst consensus in agreement with current market valuations?

Benzinga answered these questions by screeningstocks having a market valuation of at least $1 billion and ranked them by Q1 total returns. Here's what we discovered.

Read Also:Top 5 Best And Worst U.S. Industry ETFs In Q1 2023: AI and Bank Turmoil Shaped Stock Returns

The Five Top Performing U.S. Stocks in Q1 2023

5) Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. MARA

Marathon Digital Holdings is a digital asset miningtechnology company with a focus on the blockchain ecosystem and the development of digital assets. The company grew by 143% in the first quarter, owing to a 50% quarterly gain in the overall crypto market value, which increased to 1.15 trillion at the conclusion of the quarter. A short squeeze phenomenon was another factor that most likely led to the company's extraordinary rise. Marathon Digital Holdings was one of the most shorted companies in the marketat the start of the year, with a short interest of 43%. Once sellers were forced to liquidate positions and purchase back stock amid strongprice momentum, the unwinding of those short bets likely exacerbated the bullish surge. By the conclusion of the quarter, short interest in MARA had dropped to 27%. Marathon trades at a discount of 30% versus the average analysts price target. Analyst Gianni Di Poce recently said the company could rise 47% as the shares are undervalued.

4) Oscar HealthIncOSCR

Oscar Health, Inc., formerly known as Mulberry Health Inc., is a health insurance company in the U.S. that created +Oscar, a technology-driven platform meant to help providers and payors directly support their shift to value-based care. Oscar Health rose by 170% in the first quarter of2023. The company skyrocketed in the last days of the quarter on the heels of better-than-expected fourth quarterearnings and the appointment of former Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini. The newly hired CEO believes the firm can provide digital tools to assist doctors and health systems engage with patients and manage their treatment. Oscar Health is trading at a 22% price premium to the average analyst price target.

3) C3.aiIncAI

C3.ai, Inc., formerly known as C3 IoT, Inc., operates as an enterprise artificial intelligence (AI) software company providing a wide range of AI applications. C3.ai delivered a 191% return in the first quarter of 2023. However, the stock still trades 65% lower from its IPO. In February, C3.ai saw an increase in the short interest by market participants to 22%, after the short-seller Spruce Point Capital questioned its profitability. C3.ai is trading at a 40% premium to the average analyst price target.

2) Riot PlatformsIncRIOT

Riot Platform is a bitcoin mining firm that operates in three segments: Bitcoin mining, data center hostingand engineering. The firm also offers co-location services to large-scale bitcoin mining enterprises.

Riot Platforms rose 195% in the first quarter of the year, but continues to be 85% lower than its all-time high reached in February of 2021. The rise in bitcoin prices (up nearly 70% in the first quarter) was one of the key bullish driver for the stock. The short interest is currently around 19% and the stock is broadly in line with the average analyst price target

See the latest analysis on Riot Platform: This Bitcoin-Mining Stock Surged Over 47% In 1 Month: But Options Market Has Something Else To Say

1)Biomea Fusions IncBMEA

Biomea Fusionis a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm specializing in the research and development of covalent small molecule medicines for the treatment of patients with genetically defined cancers and metabolic diseases.

BMF-219, an orally bioavailable, powerful, and specific covalent inhibitor, is its primary product candidate for treating patients with liquid and solid tumors, as well as type 2 diabetes.

Biomea Fusions increased 272% in the first quarter of the year. The vast bulk of the performance occurred on the last day ofthe quarter, when the company announced positive data from an ongoing phase II trial, indicating that 89% of patients achieved a HbA1c decrease.

Biomea is selling at a discount to Wall Street analysts' average price target, which is 53% higher than current stock prices.

Read Next:Labor Market Is Cooling: ADP Job Growth Misses Expectations. Here's How Fed Rate Bets And Markets Are Reacting

Photo: Shutterstock

Continue Reading

Entertainment

Strictly Come Dancing star arrested on suspicion of rape

Published

on

By

Strictly Come Dancing star arrested on suspicion of rape

A Strictly Come Dancing star has been arrested on suspicion of rape.

The unnamed man, who is in his 30s, was also detained over a separate allegation of “non-consensual intimate image abuse”.

The Met Police said an arrest was made in east London on Friday in a joint investigation with Hertfordshire Constabulary, following a “third-party allegation of sexual and drug-related offences”.

It is understood the arrest is not related to the upcoming production of Strictly Come Dancing – the 23rd series, which is in the rehearsal stage and is due to launch in September.

“On Friday 22 August, officers arrested a man in his 30s in east London on suspicion of rape and non-consensual intimate image abuse,” a spokesperson for the Met said in a statement.

The investigation is in its early stages and inquiries are ongoing, the spokesperson added.

The man was released on bail on Saturday until a date in November, the force said, according to BBC News.

Hertfordshire Constabulary did not add anything further.

A spokesperson for the BBC said: “It would not be appropriate to comment on an ongoing police investigation.”

Earlier this month, it was reported the broadcaster had called in lawyers to investigate following claims two of its stars had used cocaine.

Continue Reading

UK

Nigel Farage’s deportation plan relies on these conditions – legal expert explains if it could work

Published

on

By

Nigel Farage's deportation plan relies on these conditions - legal expert explains if it could work

Explaining how they plan to tackle what they described as illegal migration, Nigel Farage and his Reform UK colleague Zia Yusuf were happy to disclose some of the finer details – how much money migrants would be offered to leave and what punishments they would receive if they returned.

But the bigger picture was less clear.

How would Reform win a Commons majority, at least another 320 seats, in four years’ time – or sooner if, as Mr Farage implied, Labour was forced to call an early election?

How would his party win an election at all if, as its leader suggested, other parties began to adopt his policies?

Politics latest: Starmer ‘angry’ about Farage’s language on migrant hotels

Highly detailed legislation would be needed – what Mr Farage calls his Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill.

But Reform would not have a majority in the House of Lords and, given the responsibilities of the upper house to scrutinise legislation in detail, it could take a year or more from the date of an election for his bill to become law.

Reform’s four-page policy document says the legislation would have to disapply:

The United Nations refugee convention of 1951, extended in 1967, which says people who have a well-founded fear of persecution must not be sent back to a country where they face serious threats to their life or freedom

The United Nations convention against torture, whose signatories agree not expel, return or extradite anyone to a country where there are substantial grounds to believe the returned person would be in danger of being tortured

The Council of Europe anti-trafficking convention, which requires states to provide assistance for victims

Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player

Farage sets out migration plan

According to the policy document, derogation from these treaties is “justified under the Vienna Convention doctrine of state necessity”.

That’s odd, because there’s no mention of necessity in the Vienna Convention on the law of treaties – and because member states can already “denounce” (leave) the three treaties by giving notice.

👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈

It would take up to a year – but so would the legislation. Only six months’ notice would be needed to leave the European Convention on Human Rights, another of Reform’s objectives.

Read more:
Women and children will be detained under Farage plans
Far right ’emboldened’ says MP as Starmer faces mounting pressure over immigration

Mr Farage acknowledged that other European states were having to cope with an influx of migrants. Why weren’t those countries trying to give up their international obligations?

His answer was to blame UK judges for applying the law. Once his legislation had been passed, Mr Farage promised, there would be nothing the courts could do to stop people being deported to countries that would take them. His British Bill of Rights would make that clear.

Courts will certainly give effect to the will of parliament as expressed in legislation. But the meaning of that legislation is for the judiciary to decide. Did parliament really intend to send migrants back to countries where they are likely to face torture or death, the judges may be asking themselves in the years to come.

They will answer questions such as that by examining the common law that Mr Farage so much admires – the wisdom expressed in past decisions that have not been superseded by legislation. He cannot be confident that the courts will see the problem in quite the same way that he does.

Continue Reading

UK

Six injured after Leicestershire dog attacks

Published

on

By

Six injured after Leicestershire dog attacks

Six people are believed to have been injured after dog attacks in Leicestershire, police have said.

Officers received two calls regarding dog attacks in the area of Beveridge Lane, Bardon Hill, on Thursday morning – one at 6.30am and the other at 7.44am.

Leicestershire Police said that in the first call to police, a person reported seeing a man being attacked by two dogs.

Upon arrival, no dogs were located, but a victim was identified.

Later, in the second call to the force, three people were reported to have been bitten in the same location.

Two dogs – confirmed to be Caucasian shepherds – were then discovered after firearms officers, a police dog and its handler were deployed.

The force added that both dogs were safely removed and are now being held in secure kennels.

In an update on Tuesday, officers said that two further people had come forward to report they were bitten by a dog in the same location at the time, bringing the total to six.

Read more from Sky News:
‘Headphone dodgers’ targeted by new TfL campaign
Epping migrant hotel resident appears in court

Women and children will be detained under Farage deportation plans

Two people, a girl aged 17 and a man aged 47, were arrested on suspicion of being in charge of a dangerously out of control dog in a public place.

The man was also arrested for a further two offences under the Animal Welfare Act. Both have been released under investigation.

Leicestershire Police also said it made a referral to the Independent Office for Police Conduct because of a prior report made about the dogs.

Continue Reading

Trending