The stock market has been increasingly turbulent in recent weeks, and investors are hopeful that an old seasonal adage will prove to be a turning point in the current bear market. With the historically crash-prone October now over, market participants often hope for an end-of-year rally. The first trading session of November looked as though it might make good on that promise, with stock index futures up as much as 1.5% an hour before Wall Street opened for trading.
Beaten-down growth stocks have come back into the limelight in the most recent rally in October, and Uber Technologies (UBER -0.07%) found its stock moving sharply higher Tuesday morning after announcing its latest financial results. However, the biggest gains of the morning came from Abiomed (ABMD), which is the target of the latest acquisition bid from one of healthcare's largest companies. You'll find more details below.
Uber hits the gas
Shares of Uber Technologies were up 12% in premarket trading Tuesday morning. The ridesharing and delivery service reported massive gains in revenue, and even though losses also ballooned, Uber shareholders seem upbeat about the prospects for a full recovery in time.
Uber's third-quarter report gave the details. Gross bookings were up 26% year over year, with the ridesharing mobility business seeing the largest portion of those gains with 38% segment growth. The number of trips during the quarter rose 19% to 1.95 billion, working out to 21 million per day. Uber's delivery business also saw growth, although gross bookings climbed just 7% from year-ago levels. The impact on Uber's top line was huge, with sales soaring 72% based largely on the acquisition of logistics platform provider Transplace by the company's freight division.
Uber did see plenty of red ink, with losses rising to $1.2 billion. However, more than $500 million of that came from downward revaluations of Uber's equity stakes in other businesses, and stock-based compensation added nearly another half-billion dollars to the losses.
Investors were pleased to see Uber even more optimistic about what the future will bring, with projections for gross bookings growth of 23% to 27% in the fourth quarter. As Uber expands the scope of its business to take on a larger addressable market, shareholders hope that the moves will translate into long-term profits for the disruptive transportation company.
Johnson & Johnson moves to buy Abiomed
The best-performing stock of the day, though, was Abiomed, whose shares soared more than 50% in premarket trading. The heart pump specialist agreed to a buyout bid from healthcare giant Johnson & Johnson (JNJ -1.15%) that will reward shareholders quite well.
Under the terms of the deal, Johnson & Johnson will pay $380 per share in cash to Abiomed shareholders, valuing the company at roughly $16.6 billion. In addition, Abiomed shareholders will receive a contingent value right that could lead to additional payments of up to $35 per share in cash. That additional money is contingent on various Abiomed products reaching specified commercial and clinical milestones.
J&J explained its interest in Abiomed by noting that the acquisition will add to its already extensive portfolio of products to address heart failure and recovery. With cardiovascular diseases being the top cause of death, Abiomed's leading medical devices for treating coronary artery disease and heart failure made it irresistible to Johnson & Johnson.
For a long time, J&J has seen the fastest growth from its pharmaceutical segment, but the company's high-growth strategy explicitly includes medical technology as another area that's fertile for breaking new ground. The fact that Johnson & Johnson stock is down only half a percent shows that few investors think the healthcare giant overpaid for Abiomed, and it'll be interesting to see if a bidding war could break out for the medical device maker.
