A floundering week in U.S. stocks ended on a low note, with the S&P 500 finishing Friday’s yo-yo trading down 0.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.3%.
We take a break from the busy earnings season on Monday to look at some of the companies making noise with other news. Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ACAD), Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE:CAT) and Tesla Motors Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) are all stocks worth watching as the calendar turns to May.
Here’s what could have these three companies on the move today:
Acadia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (ACAD)
Acadia on Friday received a green light on a treatment for psychosis associated with Parkinson’s disease.
Nuplazid, a once-a-day oral drug, was given U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval seven months after Acadia filed a New Drug Application, setting up a June launch for the drug. This is the “first and only medicine to be approved by the FDA for this indication,” treating hallucinations and delusions without impairing motor function — a typical negative side effect of other current Parkinson’s psychosis treatments.
The company will provide more details today at an 8:30 a.m. call. As of early Monday premarket trading, however, the news had ACAD shares up some 5%.
Caterpillar Inc. (CAT)
Caterpillar is narrowing its focus by closing down five plants.
The construction equipment manufacturer has been suffering a decrease in demand that has given the company no choice but to consolidate its operations and cut down its workforce.
Over the next year and a half, Caterpillar will no longer have its plants in Oxford, Miss., Newberry, S.C., Ridgeway, S.C., Jacksonville, Fla. and Morganton, N.C.
A total of 820 employees will part ways with the company over this period, increasing the total number of workers laid off by Caterpillar since September north of 6,000.
Despite this, CAT stock itself is actually doing quite well. Shares are up more than 14% year-to-date, and the stock last month scrawled out a golden cross — a bullish technical pattern that sees the shorter-term 50-day moving average climb above the 200-day MA.
Tesla Motors Inc (TSLA)
TSLA shares could get a love today after the company revealed a new element of the Model 3.
The Model already is a highly anticipated vehicle that could be the automaker’s most important piece of machinery, as it should put TSLA in the hands of the masses thanks to its quite affordable price compared to its other offerings.
While Tesla’s flagship Model S starts at $70,000, the base Model 3 will sell for half that price ($35,000), and it will also diminish your carbon footprint significantly.
And now, Model 3s will have Ludicrous Mode available.
In the Model S, this feature can take the car from 0 to 60 in 2.8 seconds, though analysts aren’t quite sure exactly how quickly the mode will get the Model 3 up to speed.
Tesla already has 400,000 pre-orders registered for the Model 3, which won’t even be produced until next year, so Ludicrous Mode is far from a game-changer. Still, it’s yet another example of Tesla’s ability to generate buzz — something that TSLA is often able to turn into positive momentum.
TSLA shares are set to open Monday’s trading slightly higher.
As of this writing, Karl Utermohlen did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
