If you're feeling good about the market, you're not alone. Take my hand as we go over some of this week's more uplifting headlines.
1. K-Cups -- aisle 4
Fresh from hitting an all-time high earlier this month, Keurig Green Mountain (GMCR.DL) kept the good news coming this week by striking a deal with Harris Teeter to be the upscale grocer's exclusive provider of private-label K-Cups.
Keurig Green Mountain will provide the chain's 231 supermarkets with portion packs under Harris Teeter's own label. Keurig Green Mountain's K-Cup patents expired nearly two years ago, but we're seeing retailers -- including BJ's Wholesale Club last month and Harris Teeter this month -- turn to Keurig Green Mountain for their private labels instead of cheaper third parties. Keurig Green Mountain is able to win them over with its experience and consistency. It also helps that playing nice with Keurig Green Mountain now will make it easier to keep the private-label refills coming for new brewers with patent-protected portion pack technology.
2. Fly like an eagle
AeroVironment (AVAV -0.20%) is doing a pretty good job flying without the aid of its unmanned aircraft. The maker of drones used in everything from military recon to weather monitoring posted blowout quarterly results this week.
Revenue soared 36% to $73.5 million in its fiscal fourth quarter, flying past the pros' expectations of $69.6 million. AeroVironment's profitability of $0.36 a share also obliterated the $0.23 per share that Wall Street was forecasting.
AeroVironment is also boosting its guidance for the new fiscal year, so it's not as if the quarter was loaded with orders that got bumped earlier into delivery. This was a blowout in every sense.
3. Tesla honors its namesake
Nikola Tesla would have turned 158 on Thursday had he he invented a serum of immortality among his many discoveries. He may not be around, but his achievements will likely get some more exposure thanks to Tesla Motors (TSLA -3.40%) CEO Elon Musk.
Musk pledged $1 million in funding for a new science museum dedicated to honoring and expanding awareness of Tesla's accomplishments. (And he of course promised to install a Tesla Supercharger station at the museum as well.) Naturally, Musk has more than enough money to make this happen, and since his electric-car company is named after Tesla it seems right all around.
4. Netflix gains more stream cred
Emmy nominations were announced on Thursday, and Netflix (NFLX -0.08%) fared well with 31 nominations. Yes, that may be less than a third as many as HBO, which once again led the way in critic nods for contention. However, 31 nominations is more than double the 14 it received a year earlier.
Orange is the New Black, House of Cards, Derek, and The Square received nominations as shows that premiered exclusively on Netflix. It's just more validation for Netflix and streaming video in general as a viable outlet for Hollywood.
5. UAL takes off
Shares of United Continental Holdings (UAL 4.98%) soared 13% on Thursday after the company posted better-than-expected passenger revenue per available seat-mile -- or PRASM -- for the month of June. The legacy carrier revealed that PRASM climbed 3.5% during the recently concluded quarter, ahead of its earlier forecast calling for a 1% to 3% uptick.
United Continental's PRASM growth was actually the weakest among the four largest airlines, but the updated outlook and revelation of flat non-fuel costs point to a strong quarter for the industry, which has historically burned investors but is holding up pretty good in recent years.
