Sears, Metro PCS: S&P 500 Gainers

These stocks were among the best performers in the index Thursday.

Author:: Alexandra Zendrian
Publish date:: Feb 23, 2012 5:52 PM EST

These stocks were among the best performers in the index Thursday.

NEW YORK (

TheStreet

) --

Sears Holdings

(SHLD)

and

Metro PCS

(PCS)

were among the best-performing stocks on the

S&P 500

Thursday.

The S&P 500 rose 5.8 points, or 0.43%, to close at 1,363.46.

Shares of Sears jumped 18.66% to $61.80. The retailer said Thursday it would try to raise about $1 billion by selling off or spinning out stores. Sears plans on selling

11 stores

General Growth Partners

(GGP)

to the tune of about $270 million.

Sears also reported a

fourth-quarter loss

of $2.4 billion.

Five of the six analysts who cover Sears rate it at sell; one analyst gives it a hold rating.

TheStreet Ratings

gives Sears a

D grade

and sell rating. The stock has risen 94.46% year to date.

Metro PCS shares increased 13.81% to $11.70 on Thursday. The telecommunications company reported fourth-quarter earnings of $91 million, or 25 cents a share, on $1.24 billion in revenue, up from year-ago earnings of $14 million, or 4 cents a share, on $1.1 billion in revenue. Analysts, on average, expected 16 cents a share in earnings on $1.24 billion in revenue.

Metro PCS has an estimated price-to-earnings ratio for next year of 12.47; the average for mobile telecommunications companies is 20.23. For comparison, both

American Tower

(AMT) - Get Report

and

Crown Castle International

(CCI) - Get Report

have higher forward P/Es of 34.27 and 44.64 respectively.

Of the 29 analysts who cover Metro PCS, 15 rated it buy, 13 gave it a hold rating and one analyst considered it a sell.

Metro PCS gets a

C+ grade

from

TheStreet Ratings

and is rated hold. The stock increased 34.79% year to date.

Other top performers in the S&P 500 Thursday include:

Sprint Nextel (S) - Get Report: The stock rose 13% Thursday to $2.52. The stock increased 7.69% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives Sprint Nextel a D grade and sell rating.
QEP Resources (QEP) - Get Report: The stock increased 7.79% Thursday to $34.03. The stock has risen 16.14% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives QEP Resources a C- grade and hold rating.
Jacobs Engineering Group (JEC) - Get Report: The stock rose 6.37% Thursday to $47.61. The stock increased 17.32% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives Jacobs Engineering Group a B grade with a buy rating and $52.53 price target.
Fluor (FLR) - Get Report: The stock increased 6.01% Thursday to $63.99. The stock has risen 27.34% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives Fluor a B grade with a buy rating and $69.65 price target.
Federated Investors (FII) - Get Report: The stock increased 5.91% Thursday to $20.62. The stock has risen 36.11% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives Federated Investors a C grade and hold rating.
Denbury Resources (DNR) - Get Report: The stock rose 5.5% Thursday to $20.72. The stock increased 37.22% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives Denbury Resources a B grade with a buy rating and $22.50 price target.
International Game Technology (IGT) - Get Report: The stock increased 5% Thursday to $15.11. The stock has dropped 12.15% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives International Game Technology a C+ grade and hold rating.
PulteGroup (PHM) - Get Report: The stock rose 4.8% Thursday to $8.73. The stock increased 38.35% year to date. TheStreet Ratings gives PulteGroup a D+ grade and sell rating.