Monday was a relatively calm day for the stock market, with major benchmarks generally losing modest amounts of ground from where they closed last week. With some recent positive readings on the U.S. economy, investors are largely looking at potential developments on the trade front, as well as the progress of the holiday shopping season for signs of how things are going. Yet for some companies, strategic moves sent their share prices higher. Canopy Growth (CGC +6.48%), PG&E (PCG 0.80%), and Antero Midstream (AM 2.85%) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Canopy moves forward with a new CEO
Shares of Canopy Growth climbed 14% after the Canadian cannabis specialist said that it had come to a decision on a permanent chief executive officer. Canopy decided to turn to its strategic partner, Constellation Brands, and poached Constellation CFO David Klein to take the top executive job at Canopy. Klein's background tends more toward alcohol and consumer packaged goods rather than cannabis, but investors seem optimistic about Canopy's prospects as Mark Zekulin steps down from the CEO role. Marijuana stocks haven't had a lot to celebrate lately, but the industry still has a lot of promise, and shareholders hope Klein will find ways to enhance Canopy's leadership position in the space.
Image source: Canopy Growth.
PG&E finally makes a deal
California utility company PG&E saw its stock rise more than 14% following its finalizing a huge settlement with wildfire victims in the Golden State. Under the terms of the deal, PG&E will settle with certain individuals who suffered losses in fires between 2015 and 2018 for $13.5 billion. The agreement means that PG&E has now reached settlements with every major group of claimants for damages due to the wildfires, and shareholders are now more convinced that the utility company will get to implement its own plan of reorganization instead of having creditors succeed in getting a competing plan approved by the bankruptcy court.
Antero helps itself
Finally, shares of Antero Midstream jumped 14%. The natural gas transportation and infrastructure company announced a deal with its affiliated exploration and production company under which Antero Midstream will buy back $100 million in stock from Antero Resources. The two companies have also agreed to a growth incentive fee program, which will encourage greater use of Antero Midstream's assets in exchange for volume-based discounts. The move will put Antero Resources in a better position to survive extremely low natural gas prices, but it rewards Antero Midstream as well for its willingness to collaborate. Both stocks saw gains today, and now they both have to hope for higher natural gas prices in the future.
