Dish, Live Nation led Communications stocks that gained for the week
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A late-week rally for stocks helped erase declines from earlier in the week, including an immediate drop in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine - and that meant Communications Services stocks rose to a gain on the week as well.
The S&P 500 gained fractionally for the week, and Communications stocks rose 1.85% as a group, with its Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA:XLC) gaining 1.65% for the period.
Tops among those risers was Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH), which gained 9.8% over five sessions on some late catalysts including its Thursday earnings report and an upgrade from J.P. Morgan. Shares had initially been lower Thursday after earnings, but turned around alongside a midday conference call where Chairman Charlie Ergen updated on its 5G wireless network and said a DirecTV merger was "inevitable."
It came in slightly ahead of Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV), up 8.2% over a week's sessions after its own earnings report painted an upbeat picture of the return of the live concert business amid a difficult pandemic period. Behind it, Pinterest (NYSE:PINS) and Paramount (NASDAQ:PARA) seemed to enjoy the same late-week lift that most media stocks got, ending the week up 6.7% and up 4.2% respectively.
In the decliners column, no large-cap Communications company fared worse than Bilibili (NASDAQ:BILI), dropping 13.9% amid more talk about China's regulatory approach to online media (Citi thinks the country will return to approving videogames at some point this year, sooner than expected).
Ad giant WPP (NYSE:WPP) was the second-worst big-company decliner, down 8.9% for the week largely off its own earnings report, which came in between in-line and a narrow beat of expectations. And Roblox (NYSE:RBLX) spent more time in the penalty box, falling 8.2% in a week despite a Friday rally. (It was also among top decliners a week ago.)
The top five gainers over the past five sessions among large-cap Communications Services stocks and larger ($10B market cap or more):
- Dish Network (DISH), +9.8%;
- Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), +8.2%;
- Pinterest (PINS), +6.7%;
- Paramount Global (PARA), +4.2%;
- Interpublic Group (NYSE:IPG), +3.8%;
The top five decliners over the past five sessions among large-cap Communications Services stocks and larger ($10B market cap or more):