Wednesday was another solid day for the stock market, which overcame early weakness to push broadly higher by the end of the trading session. Gains for major indexes weren't as large as what the markets saw on Tuesday, but ongoing optimism about the prospects for support from the Federal Reserve in the form of more accommodative monetary policy helped to buoy sentiment. Investors also looked at meetings between U.S. and Mexican officials as a sign that a recent trade flare-up might get resolved quickly. Among individual companies, good news lifted several stocks, and Cronos Group (CRON +0.38%), Primo Water (PRMW +0.00%), and Roku (ROKU +1.96%) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Cronos gets high praise
Shares of Cronos Group climbed 11% after the cannabis company became the recipient of a relatively rare move from Wall Street. Analysts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch took the unusual step of upgrading Cronos stock all the way from sell to buy, pushing their price target to $20 per share. B of A/Merrill believes that Cronos will get a boost from launching cannabis-derived cannabidiol (CBD) products in the U.S., which will allow it finally to take full advantage of its partnership with tobacco giant Altria Group. The market for CBD products promises to be extremely competitive, but with Altria in its corner, Cronos Group could have a key edge that will put it in a better position to get a head start.
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Primo's Albertsons partnership grows
Primo Water saw its stock climb 8.5% following its announcement that it had expanded its partnership with privately held grocery and drug store retail giant Albertsons. The two companies agreed that Primo would be able to install additional Primo Exchange Water machines in more than 1,000 Albertsons stores in the Midwest, West, and Northwest regions of the country. Combined with existing self-service refill water in 1,500 stores, Primo will now have a presence in the majority of Albertsons store locations. By offering prefilled exchangeable containers as well as refill options, Primo is trying to demonstrate its value proposition, and the relationship with Albertsons gives it exposure to a wide customer base that hopefully will lead to improved financial results.
Roku could have room to run
Finally, shares of Roku rose nearly 9%. The streaming television platform provider got more positive comments from the analyst community, with Guggenheim becoming the latest to weigh in on the stock. Guggenheim believes that Roku could continue to see accelerating sales growth further into 2019 as customers become more familiar with the service and rely on it more fully. Moreover, analysts believe that Roku will eventually be able to match the amount of advertising revenue that traditional television providers get, which in turn would lift sales and profits substantially. With a huge $44 increase in Guggenheim's target price to $119 per share, Roku has a lot of room to move higher.
