Tuesday saw a mixed session on Wall Street, with various market benchmarks moving in different directions. Investors seemed reasonably neutral about events in Singapore, where leaders from the U.S. and North Korea met and came to some minor agreements that viewed in the most favorable light could provide a road map for future negotiations. Yet investors seem more concerned about what the Federal Reserve's interest rate setting board might do later in the week, with a two-day meeting starting today to consider whether further rate increases are warranted. Even with the relatively flat performance from the market, some companies had good news that sent their shares sharply higher. Tesla (TSLA 2.54%), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE 3.10%), and Lands' End (LE 1.56%) were among the best performers on the day. Here's why they did so well.
Tesla makes some layoffs
Shares of Tesla gained 3% after having been up more earlier in the day. The electric car manufacturer's CEO, Elon Musk, said that Tesla would lay off about 9% of its workforce as part of a restructuring of the company. Nearly all of those to be laid off are salaried white-collar employees, leaving the company's production workforce untouched by the moves. With the need to keep production volumes of its mass-market Model 3 vehicle moving higher, investors took the news as a sign that Tesla is trying to be cost-conscious while also doing whatever it can to get vehicles to customers as quickly as possible.
Image source: Tesla.
Sage Therapeutics gets fast-tracked
Sage Therapeutics stock jumped nearly 20% after the biotech company got approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to take a faster path toward potential approval of its SAGE-217 breakthrough therapy for various forms of depression. The recent deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have highlighted the need for better treatments for depression, and Sage had already gotten the FDA's breakthrough-therapy status in an effort to move through the oversight process more quickly. Now, Sage will expedite matters with a phase 3 trial for major depressive disorder, and it eventually wants to promote the drug for those suffering from postpartum depression as well. Sage is optimistic about the treatment, and the FDA clearly wants to get necessary drugs through its approval pipeline more quickly.
A new beginning for Lands' End
Finally, shares of Lands' End soared 27%. The apparel maker announced its fiscal first-quarter financial results, which included a 12% rise in revenue on 20% gains in direct-to-consumer sales. Even though same-store sales were down 19%, with particular weakness in its in-store shops at Sears retail locations, net losses at Lands' End were much narrower than in the year-ago quarter. Moreover, CEO Jerome Griffith pointed to consistent progress toward renewed financial strength over the past several quarters as well as a strong start for its new effort to promote its corporate apparel and business uniforms business. Today's move returns the stock to levels it hasn't seen since 2015, giving the company a good chance at a full recovery in time.
