Image source: Getty Images.
Stocks opened in the red on Monday and never made it into positive territory during the first trading session of the fourth quarter. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.98%) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.46%) indexes finished with minor losses, though, of less than 0.5%.
Today's stock market:
|
Index |
Percentage Change |
Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow |
(0.30%) |
(54.30) |
|
S&P 500 |
(0.33%) |
(7.07) |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Further gains in the U.S. dollar helped push the price of gold lower, and that put pressure on VanEck Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSEMKT: GDX), which fell by just under 2%. The United States Oil Fund LP (USO 1.00%) also saw heavy trading as it ticked up by 1% to cut its year-to-date losses to below 6%.
As for individual stocks, Tesla (TSLA 4.96%) and Cabela's (CAB) made notable moves higher on Monday.
Tesla ramps up production
Tesla shares jumped 5% after the electric car manufacturer posted its third-quarter production and delivery metrics while providing updated guidance for the full year. The company delivered 24,500 vehicles during the quarter for a 70% boost over the prior quarter's pace and a 111% increase over last year's Q3. Tesla said investors can consider that delivery figure to be "slightly conservative," given that it does not include the 5,500 vehicles that were in transit to customers but had not yet been physically transferred. These numbers will make it into the fourth quarter's results.
Image source: Tesla.
The delivery figures showed continued healthy demand for both Tesla's Model S and Model X vehicles. Model S sales rose to nearly 16,000 from 9,800 in the second quarter, and Model X sales jumped to 8,700 from 4,600.
Tesla also made important strides in boosting its manufacturing pace, which is critical to both sales gains and gross profitability. Production rose by 37% to pass 25,000 units, putting the company on pace to hit CEO Elon Musk's goal of 50,000 vehicles over the final six months of 2016. Tesla's statement didn't include updates on whether the company reached profitability and/or positive cash flow in the quarter. For those details, shareholders will have to wait for the company's full Q3 results due out in early November.
Cabela's accepts a buyout
Hunting, fishing, and camping retailer Cabela's saw its stock spike 15% following news that it is being taken off of public markets. The company agreed to a buyout from privately held Bass Pro Shops, which offered $5.5 billion for its network of 85 specialty retail shops to roughly double its store footprint.
Image source: Cabela's.
"Having undertaken a thorough strategic review, during which we assessed a wide variety of options to maximize value," Cabela's CEO Tommy Millner said in a press release, "the Board unanimously concluded that this combination with Bass Pro Shops is the best path forward for Cabela's, its shareholders, outfitters and customers."
Millner stressed the fact that the buyout delivers significant liquid returns to shareholders. In fact, owners of the stock are looking at a nice 200% price appreciation over the last five years -- for more than double the return of the broader market. That's not a bad result, given that last quarter marked Cabela's first quarter of positive comparable-store sales growth in three years.
Shareholders can expect to receive $65.50 in cash at the close of the transaction, which should happen sometime in the first half of 2017. Given that the two management teams are on board for the transaction, it looks like a done deal, so investors might want to consider selling their shares and putting that cash to work elsewhere.
