2 Hot Stocks Soaring After Hours

Stocks had another positive day on Tuesday, with the market overcoming some brief dips into negative territory. All eyes are on the Federal Reserve, which began a two-day meeting to determine the likely course of monetary policy and short-term interest rates. By the end of the day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.11%), S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.02%), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.10%) were all up, with gains of as much as half a percent.

Data source: Yahoo! Finance.

After the regular session ended, a couple of companies announced financial results that shareholders found extremely encouraging. Below, we'll look more closely at why Livent (LTHM) and Paycom Software (PAYC -0.10%) got such favorable reactions in their share prices after the closing bell.

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1. Livent looks lively

Shares of Livent were big winners in after-hours trading, rising 19% late Tuesday. The lithium producer  has benefited greatly from increased demand from manufacturers of batteries for electric vehicles, and the favorable conditions look likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Livent's first-quarter results showed extremely strong momentum for the business. Revenue of $143.5 million was up 56% from year-ago levels. Net income rose sevenfold year over year, and even after accounting for extraordinary items, adjusted earnings of $0.21 per share came in well above what most investors had expected to see.

Livent reported high customer demand and rapidly increasing lithium prices amid tight market conditions, which helped boost the amount that the company was able to realize from sales of its production. Yet Livent hasn't had any trouble delivering on its supply commitments, and it's still planning to boost capacity to meet anticipated increases in demand as the transition from internal combustion to electric vehicles continues.

Based on favorable markets, Livent pushed its guidance for fiscal 2022 much higher, now expecting revenue of $755 million to $835 million for the year. That would be 89% higher than 2021's final figures, and it shows that the lithium market is just getting started in its explosive moves higher.

2. Paycom pays off

Shares of Paycom Software also gained ground. The cloud-based human capital management platform provider's first-quarter financial results helped send the stock up 8% in  after-hours trading.

Paycom's numbers were strong. Revenue of $354 million was up 30% year over year. Adjusted net income climbed 29% to $110.6 million, and that produced adjusted earnings of $1.90 per share. Both sets of numbers reflected increased usage of the Paycom platform by its clients' employees.

In particular, CEO Chad Richison pointed to the value of the company's strategy in fostering greater adoption of the software. With labor markets tightening, the value of self-service solutions and automation in the platform has never been higher, and businesses are increasingly relying on Paycom's features to bolster their own productivity.

Paycom expects full-year revenue of $1.333 billion to $1.335 billion, which would work out to roughly 26% sales growth from 2021's final numbers. That's not lightning-fast growth, but with the stock having fallen by half from its highs, shareholders seem ready to accept that pace of sales gains as acceptable.