The stock market lost ground on Monday, although as we've seen countless times before in recent months, major market benchmarks finished well off their lowest levels of the day. Some on the Street pointed to the unwinding of some trades that had gained considerable ground following the presidential election, and investors generally appeared less willing to take on stock market risk than they had been in recent weeks. Skepticism over whether President Trump will be able to implement all of his policy goals seemed to drive some of the pullback, but many stocks gained ground regardless. Range Resources (RRC +2.89%), Central European Media Enterprises (CETV +0.00%), and TG Therapeutics (TGTX 0.36%) 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.
Range Resources gets a positive review
Shares of Range Resources climbed 4% after the natural gas specialist was the subject of a write-up in financial publication Barron's over the weekend. The favorable look argued that many of the Texas-based natural gas specialist's problems have been short-term in nature, including particularly warm winter weather and generally poor conditions in the natural gas market from a demand standpoint. Yet as natural gas prices have started to pick up ground, some investors believe that Range Resources has competitive advantages over its industry peers that could well bear out in stronger profits. A turnaround won't necessarily come quickly, but eventually, Range Resources has the ability to retake a leadership role in the natural gas space going forward.
Image source: Range Resources.
Central European finds a bargain
Central European Media Enterprises stock posted a 5% gain in the wake of good news for the company's income statement. Central European said that it had made a deal with Time Warner (TWX +0.00%) to dramatically cut the amount of money the European media company has to pay the U.S. entertainment giant for guaranteeing debt. In particular, Central European Media said that its overall weighted average borrowing cost would immediately fall from 8.75% to 7.25%, with reductions of 1.25 to 1.75 percentage points on various term loans that Central European Media has outstanding. Even better, further declines are possible depending on whether the company's leverage level and outstanding debt hit certain benchmarks. Without any further action, the move should save $30 million in debt-related costs, and Central European's CEOs pointed out that the deal culminates a one-year effort that has resulted in a 4.5-percentage-point drop in borrowing costs.
TG Therapeutics soars on positive data
Finally, shares of TG Therapeutics skyrocketed 90% higher. The biopharmaceutical company released positive results from its phase 3 clinical trial of its ublituximab TG-1101 treatment for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. TG-1101 met the study's primary endpoint of demonstrating statistically significant improvements in overall response rate to the drug. In addition, the study also revealed favorable signs of progression-free survival, time to response, and radiographic complete response rates, and safety profiles were consistent with past phases of clinical trials of the drug. As CEO Michael Weiss noted, "We believe the data today demonstrate that the addition of TG-1101 to ibrutinib enhances the therapeutic benefit of ibrutinib in patients with previously treated high risk CLL, the patient population with the poorest outcome on ibrutinib." Today's response from investors clearly shows their confidence in TG Therapeutics' ability to follow through on TG-1101's promise.
