The Nasdaq had a good Tuesday, celebrating an upbeat mood among investors. Many high-profile tech stocks rebounded from modest pullbacks in previous sessions. By the end of the day, the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -0.52%) and the Nasdaq 100 were up between 1% and 2%.
The advance for the Nasdaq was broad-based, but there were still a couple of stocks that stood out. Athletic apparel specialist lululemon athletica (LULU 0.77%) made a smart strategic move to try to maintain its positive momentum in recent months. Even better, Tesla (TSLA -3.55%) made an end-of-quarter push toward profitability, with a spot in the S&P 500 index potentially at stake for the electric vehicle maker.
Mirror, mirror on Lululemon's wall
Tesla celebrated its 10th anniversary as a publicly traded stock, and it's been nearly a 60-bagger for early investors who were fortunate enough to be able to participate in the IPO and pick up stock at $17 per share. Along the way, the company has proven that it can take what originally was a concept car with limited manufacturing capacity and turn it into a mass-production vehicle that combines function and style. Thousands of loyal customers and millions of fans have helped turn Tesla into what it is today.
Image source: Lululemon Athletica.
Tesla's still working hard to grow as fast as it can. The automaker hopes to expand a key facility for doing battery research in the Bay Area city of Fremont. Despite CEO Elon Musk's irritation with local health officials about how they've handled the COVID-19 pandemic, Tesla apparently believes that it's more important to move forward quickly than to prove a point to California's government.
Competitors are starting to plug in
Shares of Lululemon rose more than 5% Tuesday. The yoga retailer made a major strategic move that will put it into the home-fitness mix, and it'll be interesting to see what Lululemon does to capitalize on its new opportunity.
Lululemon announced late Monday that it would spend $500 million to acquire privately held in-home fitness company Mirror. Mirror's interactive workout platform features a combination of live fitness classes and on-demand pre-recorded programming, and Lululemon characterized Mirror's content as "best-in-class."
With the move, Lululemon expects to add to its own online classes. As Lululemon colorfully puts it, the acquisition should provide more "digital sweatlife offerings and bring immersive and personalized in-home sweat and mindfulness solutions" to Lululemon customers. Moreover, Mirror's reflective video screen is distinctive and stylish, appealing to Lululemon's premium audience.
Investors have high hopes that Lululemon's acquisition of Mirror will give it more ammunition to weather whatever coronavirus-related headwinds it might yet face. The stock has already soared, but Lululemon is squarely in the center of a key growth demographic that could persist for years to come.
Tesla's big push
Tesla's stock rose even faster, climbing 7% to a new all-time high. Topping the $200 billion market capitalization mark was another milestone for the company, but investors are optimistic that the electric-vehicle maker could be just days away from a much more important achievement.
Today is the end of the second quarter, and CEO Elon Musk reportedly sent an email to his employees urging them to work hard so that the company could post at least a minimal profit for the period. Profitability for any given three months might seem completely arbitrary, but for Tesla, the short-term bottom line has massive implications.
The reason: Tesla has been angling to become a member of the S&P 500 index for a while now, and it's already met nearly all of the qualifications for inclusion. The last thing it needs to check off its list is four consecutive quarters of making money. Tesla has three quarters in a row under its belt.
Shareholders think that when an S&P announcement comes, it could send the stock even higher, as forced buying from index funds would create unprecedented demand. Skeptics still think Tesla's ascent is highly questionable. But that won't stop the stock from joining the key benchmark index -- if Musk can motivate Tesla's employees just a little bit more today.
