Top Gainers: Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE:HOV), Scorpio Tankers (NYSE:STNG), CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS), Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL), Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON)

Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV) New Jersey’s largest homebuilder, is optimistic that demand will continue to rise though sales have been uneven in recent months. “While the housing market has improved dramatically overall compared to where it was a couple of years ago, the recent recovery has been a little more choppy,” Chief Executive Officer Ara Hovnanian said during an earnings conference call on June 4. Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV) stock performance was 8.15% in last session and finished the day at $4.91. Traded volume was 7.47million shares in the last session and the average volume of the stock remained 2.44million shares. The beta of the stock remained 2.53. Hovnanian Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:HOV) insider ownership is 1.70%.

Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) Wednesday announced pricing of its offering of $300 million in aggregate principal amount of its 2.375% convertible senior notes due 2019 in a private offering to qualified institutional buyers. Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) rose 5.01 percent to $9.85 Wednesday on volume of 21.23million shares. The intra-day range of the stock was $9.37 to $9.98. Scorpio Tankers Inc. (NYSE:STNG) has a market capitalization of $1.87billion.

The talks are the latest sign of a possible merger as the telecom, and cable and satellite TV industry is heading towards consolidation. The latest one was as reported by the Wall Street Journal and owners of Univision Communications Inc is going through the preliminary talks with CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS) and Time Warner Inc. It may be an issue with the price as the owners valued the Company as $20 billion. CBS Corporation (NYSE:CBS)’s stock on June 25, 2014 reported a increase of 6.19% to the closing price of $62.48. Its fifty two weeks range is $47.03 -$68.10. The total market capitalization recorded $35.51billion. The overall volume in the last trading session was 32.71million shares. In its share capital, CBS has 568.34million outstanding shares.

Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL), which gets about one-eighth of its revenue from outside the United States, has been trying to boost its global presence through acquisitions to offset falling enrollments at home. Apollo acquired an 81 percent interest in South Africa-based Milpark Education and 70 percent of Australia-based Open Colleges last year. On Wednesday, shares of Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) advanced 6.15% to close the day at $31.08. Company return on investment (ROI) is 14.00% and its monthly performance is recorded as 13.06%. Apollo Education Group Inc (NASDAQ:APOL) quarterly revenue growth is -7.14%.

Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) rose after the agricultural company announced a big stock buyback and reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.  “The trend for this market is still, for the time being, up,” said Anastasia Amoroso, a global market strategist with J.P. Morgan Funds.  Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) stock performance was 5.06% in last session and finished the day at $126.73. Traded volume was 12.04million shares in the last session and the average volume of the stock remained 2.63million shares. The beta of the stock remained 1.45. Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) insider ownership is 0.20%.