2022 has been a year of extreme volatility in the stock market. After a bear-market drop in the first half of the year and a sizable summer rally, major market indexes have moved back lower in recent weeks. As investors put August behind them, they nevertheless seem unconvinced that the worst is over. As of 8:30 a.m. ET on Thursday morning, futures contracts on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -0.12%), S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.58%), and Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC -1.15%) had fallen roughly half a percent.
Investors get nervous about September as historically, it has been the worst-performing month of the year on average. However, a couple of stocks defied a potential September slump, moving higher by double-digit percentages as they came out with positive news on multiple fronts. Below, you'll learn more about why Nutanix (NTNX -2.72%) and Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ) bucked the downtrend to gain ground early Thursday.
Is Nutanix hitting bottom?
Shares of Nutanix jumped more than 16% in premarket trading on Thursday morning. The hybrid multi-cloud computing specialist reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that gave investors some reassurance that it still could have prospects to rebound from sharp declines in recent years.
Despite the stock price gains, the financial numbers from Nutanix for the period ended July 31 were somewhat mixed. Revenue for the quarter actually eased lower by 1% year over year to $385.5 million. However, losses narrowed considerably, and billings were up 10% from year-ago levels, helping to boost annual recurring revenue by 37% to $1.2 billion.
Nutanix CEO Rajiv Ramaswami saw the just-ended 2022 fiscal year as an instrumental point in the company's history. By demonstrating that its subscription business model can produce lasting results, the cloud business hopes to keep building on its success over the past year and establish itself as a faster-growing cloud company relying on recurring revenue.
To convince shareholders who've been burned previously, though, Nutanix will have to accelerate customer growth, keep bringing on large clients, and build up positive momentum in key metrics. With the stock still down more than 60% from where it was in 2018, Nutanix has room to recover.
Turquoise Hill makes a deal
Elsewhere, shares of Turquoise Hill Resources climbed 13%. After speculation for a considerable period of time, the mining company finally got a buyout bid from its majority shareholder to take it private.
Rio Tinto (RIO 1.66%) currently owns 51% of Turquoise Hill, and the two companies have been negotiating for some time to see if there would be a way for Rio Tinto to take full control of the Montreal-based Turquoise Hill. A previous non-binding proposal from Rio Tinto would have paid shareholders 34 Canadian dollars per share for their Turquoise Hill stock. A subsequent bid at CA$40 per share prompted a special committee of independent Turquoise Hill directors to negotiate with their counterparts.
Early Thursday, the two companies reached an agreement in principle, with an increased bid of CA$43 per share in cash. That represents a 19% premium to where the stock closed on Wednesday, and it's fully 67% higher than what Turquoise Hill traded for in March, immediately prior to Rio Tinto's first attempt to take the company private.
With the deal, Rio Tinto will get a greater controlling interest in a key copper mine in Mongolia. Copper prices have fallen sharply in recent months as the Federal Reserve's monetary tightening raises questions about the future strength of the global economy, but Rio Tinto appears to believe that taking control of an essential asset is worth the price -- and Turquoise Hill seems happy to oblige.
