After enjoying their best single-day gains in months yesterday, major market indexes continued to move higher on Friday. But several individual stocks stood out from the rest with more pronounced pops, including Zoe's Kitchen (ZOES), America's Car-Mart (CRMT -0.53%), and Accuray (ARAY -0.90%). Read on to learn why.
Zoe's Kitchen is being acquired
Shares of Zoe's Kitchen popped 33.2% after the fast-casual restaurant chain agreed to be acquired by privately held Cava Group -- the parent of the CAVA Mediterranean-centric restaurant brand -- for $12.75 per share. That places an enterprise value on the deal of roughly $300 million, and marks a 33% premium to Zoe's 30-day volume weighted average price.
Image source: Getty Images.
In a prepared statement, Zoe's Kitchen noted the transaction will join the two brands with their "distinct service models and a shared passion for healthy, no-compromise Mediterranean cuisine." This will also enable the combined businesses to leverage their scale and larger footprint to drive additional growth opportunities.
That's not to say everyone is happy; Zoe's shares were still reeling following a nearly 50% plunge in late May after the company posted disappointing quarterly results. And even given today's hefty acquisition premium, anyone who bought the stock between the start of the year and that drop is still sitting on a loss.
America's Car-Mart drives a quarterly beat
America's Car-Mart stock soared 21.7% in the wake of the regional automotive retailer's stronger-than-expected fiscal first-quarter 2019 results.
Car-Mart's revenue climbed 12% year over year to $164 million, including healthy same-store sales growth of 12.1%. That translated into net income of $10.9 million, or $1.53 per share, up from $0.90 per share in the same year-ago period. Analysts, on average, were only expecting earnings of $1.15 per share on slightly lower revenue.
"We are happy with the progress we are making and it is nice to see the hard work, dedication and commitment of our associates translate into good, solid top and bottom line results for the quarter," added CEO Jeff Williams.
Accuray cuts its losses
Finally, shares of Accuray soared as much as 17.6% early in the session, then settled to close up 9.9% after the radiation oncology system specialist posted better-than-expected fiscal fourth-quarter 2018 results and encouraging forward guidance.
Accuray's revenue climbed 1.5% year over year to $113.8 million, as a 15% increase in service revenue more than offset a 10% decline in product revenue. The company also saw gross orders increase 12% to $96.4 million, and ended the fiscal year with a backlog of $478.5 million, up 6% year over year. On the bottom line, its net loss narrowed to $0.9 million, or $0.01 per share, compared to a loss of $5.3 million, or $0.06 per share a year ago. Most analysts watching the stock were anticipating a wider net loss of $0.02 per share.
What's more, Accuray guided for fiscal 2019 revenue of between $415 million and $425 million, well above the $413 million Wall Street was modeling.
With Accuray shares trading near a 52-week low going into this report, it's hardly surprising to see the stock rebounding in response today.