Thursday was another down day for the stock market, with new pressure coming from international moves on the macroeconomic front. The European Central Bank signaled that it was ready to provide more accommodative monetary policy, reversing a previous tightening stance and showing its concerns about the prospects for economic growth in the region. Yet favorable earnings reports continued lifting shares of certain individual companies. Rosetta Stone (RST), ArQule (ARQL), and Fly Leasing (FLY) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Check out the latest earnings call transcripts for ArQule and other companies we cover.
A nice jump/salto/saut/Sprung for Rosetta Stone
Shares of Rosetta Stone soared 29% after the language learning specialist reported its fourth-quarter financial results. The company said that sales were roughly flat compared to year-ago levels, but Rosetta Stone saw a huge increase in interest in its Lexia Learning educational literacy business segment, where revenue climbed 20%. Weakness in the consumer language arena led to a 13% drop, yet some of that decline stemmed from Rosetta Stone's shift away from one-time license sales to a subscription-based model. Investors are optimistic about the long-term prospects for the company, and a return to revenue growth across all of Rosetta Stone's business lines in 2019 would mark the successful completion of its recovery.
Image source: Rosetta Stone.
ArQule sees a brighter future
ArQule's stock skyrocketed over 67% after the development-stage biopharmaceutical company reported financial results from the fourth quarter of 2018. At first glance, the numbers didn't look good for ArQule, as they included a wider loss of $8.49 million for the quarter on revenue of just $2.94 million. Moreover, the biopharma forecast revenue of just $3 million to $5 million in 2019, with losses expected to come in between $40 million and $43 million. Yet investors still have high hopes that its pipeline of clinical-stage treatments could produce blockbuster results, and with enough cash to deal with its expected burn rate, shareholders seem willing to wait and see whether ArQule can reach its potential.
Fly gains altitude
Finally, shares of Fly Leasing picked up 15%. The aircraft leasing specialist said that revenue climbed 10% in the fourth quarter of 2018 compared to the previous year's quarter, and adjusted net income quadrupled over the same period. Proceeds from operating lease rentals climbed 26%, and Fly boasted 100% utilization of its aircraft fleet during the period. Fly also sees 2019 continuing its strong momentum. With smart management of its portfolio of 113 commercial airliners, Fly has taken advantage of strong demand from its customers and doesn't see anything changing that in the immediate future.
