Why Tenet Healthcare, Chemours, and Sotheby's Jumped Today
Monday gave stock-market investors a big rebound, with major market benchmarks climbing 2% in the wake of the FBI's announcement that it had found nothing to warrant further action in its review of recently found email communications. Moreover, individual news affecting certain companies helped to support the market, and Tenet Healthcare (NYSE: THC), Chemours (NYSE: CC), and Sotheby's (NYSE: BID) were among the best performers in the market for the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so well.
Image source: Tenet Healthcare.
Tenet climbs on better likelihood for healthcare reform surviving
Tenet Healthcare jumped 12%, with most investors attributing the gains to a greater belief among market participants that the Democratic presidential candidate will be the winner in the general election on Tuesday. Tenet enjoyed a substantial boost when the Affordable Care Act became law, and some concerns that a Republican presidential victory might pose a threat to Obamacare going forward had been one contributing factor to the hospital stock's recent declines. That said, investors might also have been pleased at the company's decision last Friday to appoint two new independent directors to its board, adding to the expertise and diversity of Tenet's board of directors, and potentially putting the company in a better position to consider strategic moves in the future.
Chemours gives investors a solid report
Chemours rose 13% after reporting its third-quarter financial results. The chemical company suffered a roughly 6% drop in sales, but Chemours reversed a year-earlier loss to post net income of $204 million. That worked to adjusted earnings of $0.61 per share after taking extraordinary items into account, and that figure was up by more than half from the similar adjusted earnings numbers from the year-ago period.
The chemical company pointed to lower fixed costs, reduced prices for raw materials, and better plant utilization for the bulk of its improvement, and greater demand for titanium-dioxide pigments also contributed to performance. With the company's strategic review of its portfolio complete, investors expect Chemours to be even more efficient in the future, and that's driving much of today's optimism in the stock.
Sotheby's investors hope for an end to its slump
Finally, Sotheby's climbed 11%. The auction house reported lackluster financial results in its third-quarter report, including seeing revenue fall by a third and a doubling of adjusted net losses. Yet after opening the day roughly unchanged, investors got happier after considering the news more fully.
Sotheby's also said today that it had named former Hong Kong Telecom CEO Linus W.L. Cheung to its board of directors, and the appointment is related to an agreement with shareholder Taikang Insurance Group not to take an ownership stake of more than 15% for the next three years. Investors also pointed to improved levels in Sotheby's auction commission margin, which could eventually lead to higher profits once conditions in the hard-hit luxury collectibles market finally start to improve.
A secret billion-dollar stock opportunity The world's biggest tech company forgot to show you something, but a few Wall Street analysts and the Fool didn't miss a beat: There's a small company that's powering their brand-new gadgets and the coming revolution in technology. And we think its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early in-the-know investors! To be one of them, just click here.
Dan Caplinger has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Sotheby's. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.