August, a historically challenging month for U.S. stocks, is off to an ominous start as investors passed on riskier assets Tuesday, sending gold close to a two-year high. Other safe-havens, including Treasuries and the yen, rose.
The S&P 500 lost 0.64% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average sank by half a percent. The Nasdaq Composite tumbled 0.9%.
On a sour day for stocks, Avon Products, Inc. (NYSE:AVP), Biogen Inc (NASDAQ:BIIB) and Sodastream International Ltd (NASDAQ:SODA) delivered sweet performances.
Avon Products, Inc. (AVP)
Cosmetics distributor Avon Products, Inc. soared over 14% on more than triple the average daily volume after delivering second-quarter results that beat Wall Street estimates. During the second quarter, AVP earned 7 cents a share. Analysts expected AVP to earn 2 cents a share.
AVP’s revenue fell from $1.56 billion to $1.43 billion, which was about what analysts expected AVP to report. AVP said the stronger U.S. dollar weighed on the results, with an impact of 10 cents per share.
Though still down over the past year, AVP shares have about doubled within 2016.
Biogen Inc (BIIB)
Shares of biotechnology giant Biogen Inc surged 9.4% on more than triple the average daily turnover on reports the company is a potential takeover target and that multiple companies could be interested in BIIB.
A report in the Wall Street Journal suggests that Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK), a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Allergan plc (NYSE:AGN) could be among the potential suitors for BIIB.
“Merck and Allergan have each sounded out Biogen on the possibility of a takeover, people familiar with the matter said. The communications were informal and preliminary, and they may not result in a deal — in part because Biogen may not be interested, they added,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
BIIB closed Tuesday with a market cap of about $72 billion.
Sodastream International Ltd (SODA)
Sodastream International Ltd jumped 16.4% on more than 10 times the usual volume after the maker of at-home carbonated drinks products reported second-quarter results that beat analysts’ expectations.
SODA’s net income surged 120% to $7.8 million from $3.5 million. SODA reported sales of $119.2 million, an increase of more than 17% from the year earlier period.
Shares of SODA are up more than 70% year-to-date.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
