Yahoo Finance How Vonage Holdings Corp. Stock Rose 27% in the First Half of 2018
What happened
Shares of Vonage Holdings (NYSE: VG) rose 26.8% in the first half of 2018, according to data from S&P Global Market Intelligence. The stock has more than doubled in value over the last year thanks to strong results followed by several positive analyst actions.
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So what
The cloud-based communications veteran entered 2018 with plenty of positive market momentum, as share prices increased by 49% in 2017. The rally appeared to have ended in February, when Vonage fell short of Wall Street's fourth-quarter estimates and the stock plunged 14% lower in a single day. But it was back to normal in May. Vonage beat analysts' first-quarter expectations across the board and restarted its shares' engine.
I found four analyst firms raising their target prices on Vonage stock after this report, by an average of 17%.
Now what
The shift from consumer-oriented voice services to a sharp business-to-business focus has worked out well for Vonage. The business segment accounted for 54% of the company's total sales in the first quarter, and it is growing while the deprecated consumer segment shrinks. Total sales are on the rise, cash flows and EBITDA profits are strongly positive, and the company is going places. Investors love these positive trends, as seen in the surging 52-week stock chart.
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Anders Bylund has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
