Monday was a weak day for the stock market, with most major benchmarks losing ground. Further concerns about the potential for a deepening divide between the U.S. and China weighed on sentiment, and some also fear that steadily rising interest rates could eventually put pressure on stocks. Yet some companies still had good news that sent their individual shares higher. Rent-A-Center (RCII 1.35%), PTC Therapeutics (PTCT 2.55%), and Dropbox (DBX 0.97%) were among the best performers on the day. Here's why they did so well.
Rent-A-Center makes a cash deal
Rent-A-Center stock soared 22% after the rent-to-own retailer accepted a bid to go private. A unit of private equity company Vintage Capital Management made a $1.37 billion offer to purchase Rent-A-Center that will pay stockholders $15 per share in cash. Investors had hoped that Rent-A-Center's review of potential strategic and financial alternatives would lead to some action that would unlock value for them, and after a series of bids between $13 and $15 per share dating back for nearly a year, Vintage Capital finally managed to convince the company that its offer was fair and reasonable and in the best interests of shareholders.
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PTC has an encouraging trial update
Shares of PTC Therapeutics skyrocketed 27.5% in the wake of positive data from a clinical trial of one of its candidate treatments. PTC said that its risdiplam treatment for babies with type 1 spinal muscular atrophy showed promising results, including a massive increase in protein production and dramatic improvements in various scores measuring motor skills. Risdiplam also demonstrated encouraging characteristics concerning safety, and CEO Stuart Peltz is hopeful that further data will build an even stronger positive outlook for the treatment and for PTC in the long run.
Dropbox defies gravity
Finally, Dropbox stock jumped 6%. The cloud storage specialist has been on a fantastic run over the past week, gaining a total of almost 40% since last Monday. Although some of the move has likely come from good news on the product development front, Dropbox's gains are also a result of generally upbeat views on high-growth technology stocks more broadly. There's no doubt that cloud computing is a trend that will continue to gain favor, and Dropbox will play its own unique role in fostering development. Yet the stock has climbed nearly 50% since the first day it started trading as a public company. That strong a run suggests that absent extraordinary fundamental growth that dramatically exceeds current high expectations, Dropbox will have trouble continuing to produce share-price gains like we've seen so far in the stock's short history.
