Friday was a good day for the stock market, which rebounded somewhat from its big declines over the previous couple of sessions. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished with triple-digit gains, but its losses for the week amounted to roughly 1,000 points, and investors still seem less than certain about whether October's reputation for stock market crashes might mean further drops ahead. Yet for today, most investors were willing to focus on good news, and some companies saw solid advances for their stocks. Canopy Growth (CGC 20.65%), SSR Mining (SSRM 1.44%), and Iovance Biotherapeutics (IOVA -0.68%) were among the best performers. Here's why they did so well.
Canopy Growth counts down
Shares of Canopy Growth climbed almost 6% on a good day for marijuana stocks in general as investors prepare for the coming legalization of recreational cannabis in Canada next Wednesday, Oct. 17. Canopy is a leading player in the Canadian cannabis industry, and it's received key strategic investments from beer and spirits giant Constellation Brands, which is the company behind well-known names like Corona and Modelo. In particular, the collaboration with Constellation highlights the opportunity for Canopy to come out with cannabis-infused beverages, a market niche that has attracted a lot of attention lately. Some fear that the reality of Canada's marijuana market might not live up to the hype, but for now, shareholders are riding Canopy and other cannabis stocks higher.
Image source: Canopy Growth.
SSR reports strong results
SSR Mining stock jumped 12% after the mining company released its third-quarter production results. The company reported gold-equivalent ounce production of almost 95,000 ounces, posting its best quarter of the year, with increases of 18% from year-ago levels at its Marigold location in the U.S. and its Seabee operation in Canada. SSR's Puna Operations site in Argentina produced roughly 700,000 ounces of silver and 3.2 million pounds of zinc, and the company also reported good progress in pre-stripping activity at its Chinchillas site. If metals keep performing well during the market's downturn, then further gains could be in store for SSR.
Iovance successfully raises cash
Finally, shares of Iovance Biotherapeutics soared 20%. The biotech company announced that it had priced its previously announced secondary offering of stock, selling 22 million shares at a price of $9.97 per share. Iovance intends to use the proceeds from the offering to help it launch its lifileucel treatment commercially, which it hopes to use in patients suffering from malignant melanoma and potentially other forms of cancer. Investors were pleased with how well the offering went, especially given some past challenges that the company has faced. With some promising results from clinical studies looking at other candidate treatments having come out recently, Iovance has a lot of potential to see further gains from here.
