Stocks dropped on Tuesday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.67%) and S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.87%) indexes each finished lower by less than 0.5%.
Today's stock market
|
Index |
Percentage Change |
Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow |
(0.14%) |
(29.58) |
|
S&P 500 |
(0.29%) |
(6.92) |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Financial stocks saw some of the heaviest trading, but the popular Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF 1.21%) only kept pace with the broader market and fell slightly. Meanwhile, the selling continued on the bullish bet on gold, the Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (NUGT -8.96%), which fell almost 2% for the day.
Image source: Getty Images.
As for individual stocks, Nimble Storage (NYSE: NMBL) and Thor Industries (THO 1.93%) were some of the biggest movers.
Nimble Storage takes a buyout
Shares of flash data specialist Nimble Storage soared 46% after the company agreed to a buyout. It will become part of Hewlett Packard Enterprise at a price of $12.50 per share, or roughly $1 billion, which translates into 2.5 times its most recent year of sales.
Image source: Getty Images.
With this purchase, HP Enterprise gains deeper access to a $15 billion market for flash storage that's projected to pass $20 billion by 2020. Nimble Storage's cloud platform has helped it gain significant market share, with sales rising 25% over the past year. Yet the company could not produce a profit from that growing installed base of customers. Net loss rose to $158 million last year, up from $120 million in fiscal 2016.
Still, HP Enterprise believes the purchase will complement its existing growth portfolio. "[T]his acquisition is exactly aligned with the strategy and capital allocation approach we've laid out," CEO Meg Whitman said in a press release. Nimble Storage executives see a win-win, too. "We're confident that by combining Nimble Storage's technology leadership with HPE's global distribution strength, strong brand, and enterprise relationships, we're creating expansion opportunities for the combined companies," CEO Suresh Vasudevan explained.
The deal is expected to close next month, and already has the support of stockholders representing about one-fifth of Nimble's outstanding shares.
Thor Industries ramps up production
Thor Industries' stock took a step back from record highs with a 10% decline following the release of the RV maker's fiscal second-quarter results yesterday after market close. The headline numbers were impressive. Sales jumped 63% to $159 billion and easily beat consensus estimates. Thor Industries' profit was also surprisingly strong, at $1.23 per share compared to the $1.22 that Wall Street was looking for.
Demand was healthy across both the towable RV segment (up 55%) and the motorized RV division (up 96%). In fact, the company had to increase production in what's typically a weak period. "Growing demand from new consumers broadening our market has continued, with younger families increasingly buying affordably priced travel trailers and smaller motorhomes," CEO Bob Martin said.
Martin and his team believe the market will grow this year, which is a tall order considering that last year was the best that the industry has seen since the 1970s. Profit growth may take a backseat for a few quarters, though, as the company spends aggressively to expand production capacity. Yet those investments should pay off by allowing Thor to crank out faster innovations to its product portfolio while better meeting elevated demand for vacation vehicles.
