Stocks dipped on Friday, as both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.56%) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.88%) indexes finished lower by less than 0.5%.
Today's stock market
|
Index |
Percentage Change |
Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow |
(0.31%) |
(65.27) |
|
S&P 500 |
(0.23%) |
(5.34) |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Financial stocks trailed the market by a slight margin, and so the popular Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF 1.38%) declined by 0.8%. Gold prices rose slightly, which helped the leveraged bet on the precious metal, Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (NUGT 1.91%), rise close to 3%.
As for individual stocks, Franklin Covey (FC 3.95%) posted market-thumping gains following the release of fresh quarterly earnings.
Image source: Getty Images.
Franklin Covey's business-model shift
Franklin Covey shares spiked 26% to regain nearly all the ground they had lost in 2017. The catalyst for the jump was the business performance software specialist's announcement of fiscal second-quarter earnings results. Sales and profit figures met management's targets, with revenue dipping slightly to $42.2 million from $45.3 million a year ago, and operating loss expanding to $4.5 million from $0.3 million.
Results were held back by strong demand for Franklin Covey's new product offering that provides unlimited access to a wide range of its intellectual property for a specified period of time. Contracts for that pass more than doubled to $7.8 million.
The bad news is the shift toward this "all access" product hurts revenue and profits in the short term. However, executives believe it's ultimately a great move for the business. The transition "will provide growth in future periods through higher initial sale sizes, consistently strong renewals, and from sales of add-on services and training materials," CEO Bob Whitman said in a press release. The recent quarter provides a good example of that last point, as the company booked $3.5 million worth of add-on materials attached to all-access pass sales. Investors expressed their optimism that Franklin Covey could see sharper growth ahead by bidding the stock past $20 per share on Friday.
