Despite Nervous Trading, These Stocks Are Hitting All-Time Highs Today

Continued concerns about rising tensions between the United States and North Korea—as well as a handful of disappointing earnings reports—dragged the stock market down on Thursday morning. Nevertheless, several companies stood out from the pack and soared to new all-time highs.

Indeed, the Dow and S&P 500 were down more than 0.5% in early morning trading, and the Nasdaq slipped more than 1%. But that didn’t spoil all the fun. In fact, some stocks even seem to be benefitting from the nervous geopolitical climate.

Among today’s new highs is Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT) , a massive U.S. defense contractor. Shares of Lockheed have since plateaued, but the stock moved more than 1% higher to touch an all-time high of $307.10 per share earlier today.

Other defense stocks reaching new heights include Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN) and Northrup Grumman (NYSE:NOC) . Raytheon is actually down on the day currently, but shares marched to a new peak of $181.60 in morning trading. Northrup Grumman has also moved lower after touching its new all-time high of $274.61 per share (also read: Lockheed Others Hit All-Time Highs on North Korean Escalation).

According to Barcharts.com, 19 different stocks have reached new all-time highs so far today. That is slightly outpaced by the 26 stocks touching new lows, but it does put the spotlight on several companies that are outperforming the rest during Thursday’s weak trading.

Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE:LYV) surged to a new high of $41.91 per share after the company posted solid quarterly results on Wednesday afternoon. The ticketing and event leader reported earnings of 29 cents per share, which smashed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 19 cents, and the stock has gained nearly 10% as a result.

While earnings news was the catalyst for Live Nation, its M&A news that has spurred Vantiv Inc. (NYSE:VNTV) today. This U.S.-based credit card processing company just announced a deal to acquire Worldpay, creating a global payment behemoth. Vantiv will spend about $10.4 billion for the U.K.’s largest payment processing company.

Shares of Vantiv peaked at a new high of $70.15 in early trading Thursday, and the stock remained up more than 3.3% through morning hours.

Other stocks touching new highs and remaining in the green during morning trading include Starwood Waypoint Homes (NYSE:SFR) , Eldorado Resorts (NASDAQ:ERI) , and Hailiang Education Group (NASDAQ:HLG) .

For a complete list of today’s new highs and lows, make sure to check out Barcharts, and for analysis on why these stocks are moving and if they can keep climbing, stay right here at Zacks.

Want more stock market analysis from this author? Make sure to follow @Ryan_McQueeney on Twitter!

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