The stock market was largely unchanged Tuesday, rebounding from an early sell-off linked to geopolitical concerns after a Russian jet was shot down near the Syrian border. Thanks in part to some particularly strong performances among individual companies, major market benchmarks finished the day near the unchanged level. SunEdison (SUNEQ), Avon Products (AVP), and TrueCar (TRUE 1.72%) were among the top-returning stocks on the day.
SunEdison soared 37%, gaining back much of its lost ground over the past week after the renewable-energy company made two key announcements. First, the company said that it had signed power purchase agreements with the County of Los Angeles to provide 6.2 megawatts of power for nine government facilities. The deal includes solar parking canopy installations, with construction expected to be complete late next year. More importantly, SunEdison said that it would sell 425 megawatts of solra projects in India for $231 million, with some of the proceeds going to pay down SunEdison's margin loan. Given the need to get SunEdison's debt down, investors praised the move, but SunEdison still needs to move forward with growth initiatives in order to keep shares moving in the right direction.
Avon Products jumped 17% following favorable comments from stock analysts. Citi Research upgraded the stock of the cosmetics giant, noting that the poor Brazilian economy that has held back the company's international business appears ready to turn around and start supporting its financial results going forward. With a huge workforce of direct-selling representatives in Brazil, Avon has worked hard to improve order execution and fulfillment among customers within the key Latin American market. Avon has maintained strong brand awareness, and that could help it restore falling market share and boost long-term loyalty given enough time. Citi isn't expecting a full rebound, setting a target price that would still represent a loss of more than half its value from where it started 2015. Yet many companies could follow Avon's trajectory upward if Brazil can bounce back from its recent woes.
Finally, TrueCar rose 14%. The car-information and networking provider named Chip Perry as its CEO in a move that many see as favorable in boosting the company's future business with the dealerships on which it relies for the success of its business model. Perry said that he would aim to mend fences with dealers. That's especially important given TrueCar's projections for industry new vehicle sales to hit 1.35 million units during the month of November, up almost 4% from last November and representing a new all-time high for that month of the year. The company expects strong Black Friday demand due to specific marketing campaigns, and if it can rebuild its relationships with dealer, TrueCar could share more extensively in that success going forward.
