The week on Wall Street ended on a sunny note Friday, with broad-based benchmarks posting modest gains as the third quarter came to a close. Market participants continued to react positively to Thursday's news that U.S. gross domestic product was higher by 3.1% in the second quarter, and investors seemed content to close another favorable quarter in which the S&P 500 picked up 4%, bringing its year-to-date returns to 12.5%. Some good news from certain individual stocks also added to the overall positive mood among investors. Zogenix (ZGNX +0.00%), Farmer Bros. (FARM 0.78%), and CalAmp (CAMP +0.00%) 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.
Zogenix gets a nice win
Shares of Zogenix skyrocketed by 172% after the small biotech company reported favorable results in a study of its Dravet syndrome drug ZX008. The rare disease is a severe type of pediatric epilepsy, and Zogenix said that its phase 3 study met the primary objective of demonstrating that ZX008 is a superior treatment compared to a placebo based on the frequency of convulsive seizures observed. A smaller dosage also resulted in reduced seizure frequency, but the reduction was only about half as big as the larger dosage indicated. CEO Stephen Farr said that Zogenix expects further data from a second study in the first half of 2018, at which point investors hope that the orphan drug will be able to take advantage of its fast-track designation to gain FDA approval.
Image source: Zogenix.
Farmer Bros. brews up strong quarterly results
Farmer Bros. Stock rose 7% in the wake of the company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings report released late Thursday. The coffee specialist said that volumes of coffee processed and sold during the quarter were up about 1%, helping to boost gross profit figures. Quarterly net income was down slightly, but full-year fiscal 2017 volume gains of 5% and a big boost in pre-tax operating earnings showed the positive momentum that Farmer Bros. has generated. CEO Mike Keown pointed to contract extensions with key customers along with bringing in new business as driving the company forward, and investors hope that strategic moves like its recent purchase of Boyd Coffee Company will help accelerate future growth.
CalAmp builds up steam
Finally, share of CalAmp finished higher by 10%. The specialist in machine-to-machine communications said that revenue slumped by 1% during its fiscal second quarter compared to the year-earlier period, and adjusted earnings per share were flat. Yet investors were pleased that CalAmp brought in major business on the software-as-a-service front, and with success in its connected vehicle and internet of things businesses along with an expanded relationship with key client Caterpillar, CalAmp sees good things happening for the rest of fiscal 2018 and beyond.
