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The stock market fell sharply on Tuesday, sending major market benchmarks to declines of between 1% and 2%. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY 1.41%) reflected the S&P's 1.25% drop, while emerging markets got hit harder, sending the iShares MSCI Emerging Market Index ETF (EEM -0.13%) down 2.3%. Most of the blame for the downturn came from the beginning of the new earnings season, with Alcoa getting off to a poor start and creating new anxiety about the health of the economic recovery. Yet even though most stocks followed the market downward, a few standouts still managed to post significant gains. Among them were Momenta Pharmaceuticals (MNTA), Carbonite (CARB), and MobileIron (MOBL).
Momenta gets positive attention
Momenta Pharmaceuticals climbed 13% after the drugmaker received an upgrade from analysts at Barclays. The analyst company boosted its rating from equal weight to overweight, and it boosted its target price by almost half to $19 per share. Momenta has been working hard toward being able to offer a generic equivalent to multiple sclerosis drug copaxone, with current patent-holder Teva Pharmaceutical doing its best to maintain protection from generic competition. Although Barclays admitted there was some chance that Momenta might not be able to offer a generic right away, it believes the risk is minimal beyond the next couple of years.
Carbonite looks as strong as steel
Carbonite gained 6% in the wake of receiving positive comments of its own from analysts. Oppenheimer boosted its rating on the shares of the cloud-computing specialist, moving from perform to outperform on Carbonite stock. Analysts cited a combination of greater corporate stability in the executive suite and the potential to produce reduced operating expenses by consolidating some of its data centers. With cloud computing remaining extremely popular, and with many potential clients looking for ways to beef up their ability to keep up with their competitors, Carbonite has an opportunity to grab its share of a fast-growing pie while times are good.
MobileIron builds positive momentum
Finally, MobileIron picked up 4%. The stock of the enterprise mobility specialist continued to take advantage of positive momentum from yesterday's announcement that it had boosted its third-quarter sales and billings guidance, pointing to more favorable industry conditions than many had expected. More broadly, MobileIron still faces the challenge of returning to profitability, but CEO Barry Mainz thinks cash flow should move out of the red by the last quarter of the year. Combined with today's announcement about the new MobileIron Bridge solution, which unifies mobile and desktop operations for Windows 10 using one console and communications channel, MobileIron is working hard to demonstrate its ability to stand out in the enterprise mobility space.
