After stumbling at the start of the session, major market indexes turned higher on Friday despite mixed quarterly results from several major banks.
Still, some individual stocks easily outpaced the rest, including RH (RH 5.10%), Biocept (BIOC +0.00%), and Lowe's (LOW 1.99%). Read on to learn why.
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RH offers clarity
After falling more than 4% on Wednesday amid concerns over the impact of potential new China tariffs on its business, shares of high-end furnishings retailer RH rebounded today after it corrected "inaccurate reports" on the percentage of its products sourced from the Middle Kingdom. The stock closed up 7.4%.
RH says it anticipates sourcing just 35% of its product from China this fiscal year, with the amount decreasing to roughly 25% to 30% in fiscal 2019. RH also noted that around 40% of its product was sourced from China in fiscal 2017.
That's much more palatable to investors than the figures reported earlier this week; analysts at Goldman Sachs previously asserted that RH imported around 77% of its total dollar volume from Asia last year, "with China constituting the majority" of those imports.
To be fair, RH was also forthright today in stating that "a significant subset" of its furniture and lighting products sourced from China would be impacted by the proposed tariffs. But even then, it believes it would be able to mitigate the effects "to the point that there would be an immaterial impact" on its financial results.
Biocept's seesaw continues
Biocept stock skyrocketed as much as 86% early in the session, then settled to close up 9.8% after the yet-to-be-profitable molecular diagnostics specialist announced a new marketing and distribution agreement with Alliance Global FZ. Under the agreement, Alliance Global will take responsibility for all sales, marketing, distribution, and reimbursement of Biocept's "Target Selector" liquid biopsy tests in the United Arab Emirates, as well as select countries and regions in the the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.
For perspective on Biocept's meteoric rise this morning, note that the stock only just fell more than 20% yesterday after investors lamented some less-than-favorable details related to a proposed rights offering to raise cash -- a move that appeared necessary for the small-cap company as it continued to quickly burn through its coffers. Today's distribution agreement offers a step in the right direction if it helps that cash burn come to an end.
Lowe's gets approving comments from analyst
Finally, shares of Lowe's jumped 1.3% in the wake of Oppenheimer analyst Brian Nagel maintaining his outperform rating on the home-improvement retailer, but also increasing his per-share price target to $140 from $115. The stock closed at just under $100.
Noting that his firm singled out Lowe's as a "Top Pick" earlier this year, Nagel elaborated today that "following a string of positive developments at [the company], and with an eye toward 2019, we are increasingly of the opinion that the components are in place to support a potentially meaningful fundamental strengthening at the chain."
In particular, Nagel believes Lowe's has plenty of room to improve store-level efficiency and execution, which could in turn significantly bolster its top and bottom lines over the next year and a half.
