Wall Street continued to struggle on Tuesday, with major benchmarks posting larger losses than those seen in recent sessions. A new round of escalation in trade conflict between the U.S. and China was the proximate cause for concerns among investors, as the White House threatened to add tariffs on another $200 billion in Chinese goods. Despite the broader worries, some companies still had good news that sent their individual shares higher. CVS Health (CVS +1.16%), Foundation Medicine (FMI +0.00%), and Solid Biosciences (SLDB +0.95%) were among the best performers on the day. Here's why they did so well.
CVS delivers
Shares of CVS Health gained 4.5% after the drugstore giant said that it would introduce delivery service that would provide home delivery from its nearly 10,000 store locations nationwide. Customers can elect to have prescriptions sent to their mailbox as quickly as the next day, with same-day delivery available in select locations including Boston, New York City, Miami, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C. Delivery of non-prescription goods from the front of CVS' retail stores is also available. The move is intended to keep pace with plans from online e-commerce retailers to make prescription drug delivery a reality, and CVS hopes that a $4.99 delivery service charge won't be too much to keep its customers loyal.
Image source: CVS Health.
Foundation gets a bid
Foundation Medicine stock soared over 28% in the wake of the company receiving a takeover bid. Swiss drug giant Roche Holding said that it would offer $2.4 billion to purchase the roughly 43% stake in Foundation Medicine that it doesn't already own, paying existing Foundation shareholders $137 per share in cash for their stock. Foundation CEO Troy Cox noted that the merger should further the collaboration between the two companies, giving patients even wider access to the testing and diagnostic information they need to get the best personalized care possible. For shareholders, the offer puts a cherry to top of what's been an eightfold rise in the stock in just a year and half.
Solid Biosciences looks lively
Finally, shares of Solid Biosciences skyrocketed nearly 47%. The biotech start-up announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had allowed the company to restart testing of its phase 1/2 clinical trial of candidate Duchenne muscular dystrophy treatment SGT-001. The FDA had placed a clinical hold on trials earlier this year, citing concerns about risks involved with the treatment. Yet Solid said that the FDA has now acknowledged that the company answered all of the regulator's questions in a satisfactory manner, and it expects to resume trials as quickly as possible. With today's move, the stock has now risen above where the shares traded when the clinical hold was first imposed.
