Stocks pared gains seen earlier in Wednesday’s session, but the S&P 500 touched five-month highs on its way to a final gain of 0.08%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fought off some headline risk in some of its members to notch a gain of 0.24% while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.16%.
Oil prices climbed 3.06% and flirted with $44 per barrel, though concerns remain for global investors about the impact a retreat in crude prices and/or Chinese equities will have on investors’ attitudes as U.S. stocks inch back to all-time highs.
Although broader benchmarks finished with modest gains, Lexmark International Inc (NYSE:LXK), SolarCity Corp (NASDAQ:SCTY) and VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) delivered stellar performances and were worthy of best stocks of the day status.
Lexmark International Inc (LXK)
Shares of Lexmark International soared 9.4% on volume that was about 30 times the daily average after the maker of printers agreed to be acquired by Apex Technology, a Chinese maker of printer cartridges. Including debt, the Apex offer values LXK at $3.6 billion. The offer values LXK at a 17% premium to its Tuesday closing price.
LXK has been hurt in the U.S. by competitors such as DocuSign and Adobe Systems Incorporated‘s (ADBE) EchoSign, which have reduced the need for printing, according to Bloomberg. However, LXK could be revived by the acquisition, which grants it access to the fast-growing China market.
The deal must be approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., reports Bloomberg.
SolarCity Corp (SCTY)
Elon Musk’s SolarCity climbed 7.8% on more than double the average daily turnover after the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved legislation Tuesday requiring that new buildings in the city install solar panels. The bill pertains to small and midsize commercial and residential properties.
Those are two prime markets for SCTY.
Shares of SCTY are down more than 36% year-to-date.
VMware, Inc. (VMW)
Software maker VMware saw its shares jump 13.7% on more than quadruple the average daily volume after the company’s first-quarter earnings topped estimates. VMW also announced a share buyback program.
VMW earned 86 cents a share in the first quarter on revenue of $1.59 billion. Analysts expected VMW to earn 84 cents a share on sales of $1.59 billion. VMW also said it will buy back $1.2 billion worth of its own shares.
At least five analysts boosted price targets on VMW following the earnings and buyback news, according to CNBC.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
