Tuesday was another lackluster day on Wall Street, and major benchmarks didn't move much as market participants largely fell prey to the summer doldrums. Some traders focused on the release of email communications by President Trump's oldest son as a worrisome sign of potential domestic political concerns going forward, but a brief drop in key indexes following the release was quickly reversed. Most investors instead focused on individual companies and their news, and Halcon Resources (HK), Amicus Therapeutics (FOLD -3.60%), and Rent-A-Center (RCII -0.66%) were among the best performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well.
Halcon makes a sale
Shares of Halcon Resources soared 52% after the shale oil production company said that it had agreed to a deal to sell the bulk of its exposure to North Dakota's Bakken region. Privately owned Bruin E&P Partners will pay $1.4 billion in cash to Halcon in exchange for its assets in the Williston Basin area. Halcon's interest in the transaction was clear from CEO Floyd Wilson's comments, which indicated that the sale "transforms Halcon into a single-basin company focused on the Delaware Basin" area of the Permian region of West Texas. Coming on the heels of sales earlier this year of its assets in South Texas' Eagle Ford area, Halcon's strategic shift identifies the Delaware Basin as the most promising play in the company's portfolio, and investors will have to count on success there for Halcon to keep rising.
Image source: Getty Images.
Amicus gets a key ruling
Amicus Therapeutics stock vaulted higher by 26% in the wake of good news from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA said that Amicus could submit a new drug application for its Fabry disease treatment migalastat, and the company plans to follow through with a submission in the fourth quarter. The move came as a surprise, because the FDA had previously said that it would want to look at additional data before considering an application for approval, and Amicus hadn't yet had time to start clinical research to gather that data. Instead, the company successfully convinced the regulatory body to use its current data. Shareholders are confident that the treatment should pass scrutiny once it gets in front of the FDA, and the stock move reflects an optimistic assessment of the likelihood that the U.S. will join Switzerland, Israel, and the European Union in approving migalastat.
Rent-A-Center says no
Finally, shares of Rent-A-Center climbed 9%. The rent-to-own retail specialist said that it had previously received an $800 million bid from private equity company Vintage Capital, amounting to $15 per share in cash for the company's stock. Yet Rent-A-Center turned down the offer last week, arguing that it "significantly undervalues the company" and leading some shareholders to believe that a sweetened deal might come soon. Excitement over the stock has risen lately in the wake of promising performance in the first quarter and the return of co-founder Mark Speese as CEO. With the stock having fetched upward of $35 per share as recently as early 2015, it's understandable why some company executives and investors would prefer the chance for Rent-A-Center to rebound further rather than selling out.