Friday was a good day on Wall Street, with major stock indexes climbing roughly 1% to finish the week strong. Market participants reacted positively to speculation that the Federal Reserve might take a more cautious stance toward raising interest rates for the foreseeable future, as even with a deal between the White House and Congress that should reopen the government, the economic ripple effect of the shutdown could last for some time. Some individual companies also had good news to share with their investors, and Canopy Growth (CGC +1.80%), Nokia (NOK +2.90%), and Overstock.com (OSTK +11.02%) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Canopy gets some help from its (Wall Street) friends
Check out the latest Canopy Growth earnings call transcript.
Shares of Canopy Growth climbed almost 10% on news that stock analysts at Piper Jaffray had boosted their views on the cannabis company. Piper lifted its price target by 50% to $60 per share, repeating its rating of overweight on the stock and saying that the marijuana producer has the potential to be part of a transformation in the industry. As legal cannabis becomes a larger part of the overall market, Canopy will be able to stake its claim to a global industry worth $250 billion to $500 billion. Between efforts to open a hemp facility in New York to its global expansion moves, Canopy appears well-positioned to produce long-term success.
Image source: Canopy Growth.
Nokia comes out with a new product launch
Check out the latest Nokia earnings call transcript.
Nokia's stock gained 7% as the company once famous for popularizing pre-smart device mobile phones said that its products would return to the U.S. market. The Finland-based company decided to enter into a partnership with Verizon Communications and Cricket Wireless to offer two new exclusive Nokia smartphones. The phones, which will run the Android operating system, will only be available to prepaid customers. Investors hope that the move is only the first in what could become a series of strategic efforts to re-enter the U.S. market in force in the months and years to come.
Overstock makes its crypto move
Check out the latest Overstock earnings call transcript.
Finally, shares of Overstock.com soared 16%. The e-commerce specialist-turned-cryptocurrency play said that its tZERO subsidiary had launched public trading of its own proprietary security tokens. tZERO had raised $134 million in its security token offering last summer, and now, the crypto asset will be available through a digital securities brokerage company that has partnered with another tZERO affiliate to offer an alternative trading system to trade the tokens. Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne celebrated the news, and shareholders hope that Overstock's new direction will pay off despite the poor performance of cryptocurrencies in general over the past year.
