Tuesday was a bad day on Wall Street, as major benchmarks fell sharply on news from the White House regarding trade. President Trump said that it might be better for the U.S. not to expect a trade deal with China until after the 2020 presidential election, throwing cold water on recent hopes that the two nations might reach an agreement on at least some of their issues of contention. Yet even though the overall market struggled, some companies announced good news that lifted their stocks. Lands' End (LE -4.59%), Audentes Therapeutics (BOLD), and ViewRay (VRAY) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Lands' End holds up well
Shares of Lands' End climbed 21% after the apparel retailer reported its third-quarter financial results. At first glance, the news didn't seem all that good, as revenue fell slightly year over year. However, those declines were due to the closing of several in-store Lands' End shops within Sears locations, and same-store sales for U.S. company-operated Lands' End locations were up 8.3% from year-ago levels. Despite facing weather issues, earnings per share climbed 10%, and projections for the fourth quarter looked favorable. The partnership between Sears and Lands' End didn't work out perfectly, but for its part, Lands' End looks like it'll be able to move forward.
Image source: Lands' End.
Audentes gets an offer it can't refuse
Audentes Therapeutics saw its stock more than double after it received an acquisition bid from biopharmaceutical company Astellas. Under the terms of the deal, Astellas will pay about $3 billion for Audentes, with shareholders getting $60 per share in cash for their Audentes stock. Audentes' gene therapy work has produced attractive candidate treatments, and Astellas believes that adding those treatments to its own pipeline will help make it a leader in treating rare diseases. Given the price that Astellas was willing to pay, it's clear that there's high demand in the healthcare sector for opportunities to grow through strategic acquisitions.
ViewRay signs up some high-profile partners
Finally, shares of ViewRay soared over 30%. The medical device maker announced two partnerships, one with Swedish medical device maker Elekta and one with Medtronic. Elekta will work with ViewRay on magnetic resonance-guided radiation therapy, taking a stake of as much as 9.9% in ViewRay. Medtronic's collaboration will center on potential clinical benefits of ViewRay's MRIdian radiation therapy system. Both moves will potentially highlight the value of ViewRay's technology, and even though the deals will require the company to do a secondary offering of stock, shareholders are excited about what the news might mean for ViewRay's long-term future.
