The stock market has been on a tear since its March lows, and investors remain optimistic about its prospects to continue to rise. Even with plenty of COVID-19-related concerns, market participants are looking eagerly at Washington to see if another round of massive fiscal stimulus will be forthcoming in the near future. Just before 11 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 1.24%) was up 132 points to 26,560. The S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.30%) rose 15 points to 3,287, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 2.05%) gained 99 points to 10,844.
Chinese electric-vehicle upstart NIO (NIO -1.16%) has captured the attention of growth investors, and its latest results from the month of July lifted its stock significantly. Even bigger gains were in store for home security specialist ADT (ADT -0.53%), which announced a major collaboration with Alphabet's (GOOG -0.23%) (GOOGL -0.18%) Google division to add a high-tech element to its offerings.
A special delivery for NIO shareholders
Shares of NIO climbed almost 11% on Monday morning. Shareholders reacted positively to the latest news from the Chinese electric-vehicle company, which released its July delivery figures.
NIO saw a huge surge in demand for its SUVs during July. Total vehicle volume came to 3,533, which was more than quadruple what NIO delivered in July 2019. The delivery numbers included 2,610 of NIO's ES6 electric SUVs and 923 of its larger ES8 models.
NIO's EC6. Image source: NIO.
In addition, NIO is looking forward to the release of its latest model. The EC6 is an electric coupe that seats five people, and NIO started taking preorders for the car back in July. The automaker sees the EC6 appealing to a different user base, including younger customers who want a sporty and stylish design. EC6s will start getting delivered in September.
NIO's stock price has already tripled just since the end of May, so there's already a lot of excitement built into the shares. Nevertheless, with such a huge market opportunity, NIO has a long growth runway ahead of it if it can execute well with its business strategy.
Cashing in on safety
ADT did even better Monday morning, as its stock soared 65%. A deal with a massive tech giant was more than enough to get investors excited about the home security specialist.
ADT entered into a long-term partnership with Alphabet's Google under which the tech company will invest $450 million toward coming out with a new generation of smart-home security products. In exchange, Google will receive a 6.6% ownership stake in ADT stock. Both companies have also agreed to commit $150 million each toward start-up expenses, including marketing, product development, technology, and employee training.
The general idea is for the two companies to bring together Google's machine-learning expertise and Nest smart-home hardware with ADT's home security prowess. Under the deal, ADT is ready to provide installation support, along with service and professional monitoring to ensure an ongoing positive experience for customers.
The partnership should hit the ground running. ADT is looking to offer Google devices before the end of 2020, with further expansion into next year. With the investment in its company, ADT hopes to accelerate its pace of development to come up with even more innovative products.
ADT has been under threat from competition, but getting Google on its side proves the company's industry leadership role. Investors have high hopes for the future, even though Google's investment price implies a company valuation of just $6.75 billion -- far below the $11 billion market cap ADT sports after today's rise.
