Tuesday saw the broader market turn lower late in the session on weakness in the Dow Jones Industrials. Bad news at the top of the brick-and-mortar retail sector hurt consumer goods stocks, and more generally, investors seemed uncertain whether major benchmarks were ready to return to all-time highs or would have to suffer another corrective phase. Despite the swirl of volatility, some stocks posted solid gains. Noble Energy (NBL), Voyager Therapeutics (VYGR -0.27%), and NXP Semiconductors (NXPI -0.51%) 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.
Noble Energy gets a lift
Shares of Noble Energy rose 11% after the oil and natural gas production company reported its latest financial results and announced a major supply deal. Revenue was up nearly 20% due to record quarterly volumes from onshore oil assets in the U.S., especially Texas, and the company reversed a loss in the year-earlier period with a solid profit for the quarter. Noble Energy also said that it had signed contracts to supply natural gas from Israeli gas fields to buyers in Egypt, with initial delivery quantities of roughly 350 million cubic feet from each of two separate fields. With Israel's Delek also involved in the $15 billion deal, the agreement points to thawing relations in the Middle East that could support Noble Energy's business there.
Image source: Noble Energy.
Voyager partners up
Voyager Therapeutics stock soared 22% in the wake of the company's announcement of a collaboration with industry giant AbbVie (ABBV 0.39%) in the fight against Alzheimer's and similar diseases. Under the strategic deal, AbbVie will pay Voyager an up-front payment of $69 million, with the potential to pay as much as $155 million in preclinical and phase 1 option payments. Development and regulatory milestone payments could add another $895 million to the total, not including tiered royalties on commercial sales globally of treatments resulting from the program for Alzheimer's and other tau-related neurodegenerative diseases. Voyager has gotten positive attention before, but the latest deal validates its approach and points to potentially game-changing developments in the future.
NXP lands a better deal
Finally, shares of NXP Semiconductors gained 6%. The semiconductor chipmaker received a larger buyout bid from Qualcomm (QCOM -0.83%), which boosted its cash offer from $110 to $127.50 per share. The sweetened terms enticed major NXP shareholders, including activist investors at Elliott Management, to support the merger. The relatively small share-price gain reflects the fact that NXP investors already expected a higher bid, but for Qualcomm, the deal serves the dual purpose of both closing on a valuable asset in NXP and fending off a hostile takeover bid from Broadcom.