Investing.com’s stocks of the week

 Cybersecurity names gained ground on a global software alert while Meta declined and a fresh escalation in the Middle East pushed crude to highs.

Here are Investing.com’s stocks of the week:

Cybersecurity stocks

Cybersecurity names were among the week's strong performers after an emergency security update for PHP, the programming language used by roughly 70% of websites worldwide, triggered a global alert. 

Two critical vulnerabilities disclosed this week could allow hackers to take remote control of affected servers.

The incident highlights a growing challenge, with artificial intelligence accelerating the discovery of software weaknesses while potentially making them easier to exploit.

Okta led the moves with a 14% gain over the week, followed by Palo Alto Networks and CrowdStrike, both up 11%, and Cloudflare, up 9%. 

Meta Platforms

Meta fell 7% on Thursday and is down 9.1% over the week after Wednesday’s post-close results, with a surprise plan to issue a new class of non-voting stock overshadowing stronger-than-expected third-quarter revenue.

The company’s special committee said in its filing that the move was motivated not only by keeping CEO Mark Zuckerberg in California but also by “an increasingly challenging environment for raising capital,” citing recent and anticipated raises at Alphabet, SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI to fund the same AI growth. 

The committee added that while Meta has sufficient resources for current needs, it would be prudent to act before more companies absorb available capital in the market. The Class C shares are intended for equity offerings from time to time and could be available as early as the end of 2026.

Tesla and SpaceX

Tesla gained 4.6% over the week, and SpaceX added 0.6% after both reported results and confirmed they are examining a tie-up.

Tesla delivered better-than-expected third-quarter earnings, with free cash flow and capital expenditure coming in ahead of Wall Street estimates. SpaceX also topped expectations.

Each company has established an independent special committee to explore a potential merger, CEO Elon Musk said, emphasizing that while independent directors are actively evaluating the transaction, talks remain at an early stage with no guarantee of an agreement.

JPMorgan analysts said they see the potential structure as likely to be a SpaceX-led all-stock deal, adding that at current Tesla market capitalization levels, a 30% to 35% premium typical for such transactions “would imply a merger of equals and clear the threshold for Musk maintaining >50% voting control of the combined entity.”

Oil stocks

Energy names advanced as crude pushed to fresh highs, with Brent climbing above $117 and WTI above $103, with both up more than 3% on Friday.

SLB leads the group with a 6.7% weekly gain. The oilfield services company also reported results on Friday. Occidental Petroleum rose 3.4%, Chevron gained 3.2%, ConocoPhillips added 3.1% and Exxon Mobil was 1.8% higher.

Moderna

Moderna declined this week, tumbling more than 17% on Thursday, with Merck also falling, after what appeared to be an early release of closely watched trial results for the companies’ experimental cancer vaccine.

The data appeared on medical news website Oncology Central at around 12:30 p.m. ET before being taken down shortly afterward. The results had been scheduled for presentation at the ESMO Congress on Saturday.

Citi maintained its Sell rating and questioned whether the vaccine’s benefit justifies the complexity of individualized tumor harvesting and manufacturing. 

Bernstein kept its Market Perform rating and described the move as a “sell the news event,” while BMO Capital Markets said the decline reflects the high expectations built into the stock’s large gains this year. 

Mizuho analyst Jared Holz called Moderna a “do-not-trade” stock for many investors given the extreme volatility.