New home sales rose to the best levels in over nine years, and that was enough for investors to bid stocks higher Tuesday, although all eyes remain focused on the Federal Reserve’s Wyoming get-together later this week.
The S&P 500 gained 0.2% while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 0.3%.
With home sales data and tech stocks pushing the broader market higher, Best Buy Co Inc (NYSE:BBY), Clovis Oncology Inc (NASDAQ:CLVS) and Toll Brothers Inc (NYSE:TOL) notched some of Tuesday’s best performances.
Best Buy Co Inc (BBY)
Shares of electronics retailer Best Buy surged 19.6% on nearly eight times the average daily volume after the company reported second-quarter results that easily topped Wall Street estimates.
For the second quarter, Minnesota-based BBY earned 57 cents a share on sales of $8.53 billion. Analysts expected BBY to earn 43 cents per shares on sales of $8.4 billion. BBY reported a surprising 0.8% gain in same-store sales, stunning analysts that expected that metric to decline 0.6%.
Best Buy forecast third-quarter EPS of 43 cents to 47 cents, while analysts are expecting 45 cents. BBY said increased demand for appliances and computers offset slower sales of video games and mobile phones during the second quarter.
Clovis Oncology Inc (CLVS)
Biotechnology firm Clovis Oncology Inc soared 27.2% on more than 12 times the usual turnover after the company said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) accepted the company’s application for accelerated approval of a treatment for ovarian cancer.
CLVS recently submitted a New Drug Application (NDA) accelerated approval for rucaparib, which is used in the “the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer in patients with deleterious BRCA-mutated tumors inclusive of both germline and somatic BRCA mutations,” according to a statement issued by Colorado-based Clovis.
Though there are available treatments for ovarian cancer, few have proven effective in treating advanced forms of the diseases, which could mean CLVS has an opportunity to gain significant market share with rucaparib.
“There is tremendous need for additional therapeutic options for patients with advanced mutant BRCA ovarian cancer and we look forward to cooperating with FDA on the rucaparib NDA review,” said Clovis CEO Patrick J. Mahaffy in the statement.
Toll Brothers Inc (TOL)
Buoyed by strong orders in its fiscal third quarter, homebuilder Toll Brothers gained 8.8% on more than six times the average daily volume.
For the July quarter, Pennsylvania-based TOL earned 61 cents a share, up from 36 cents a year earlier and in line with what analysts expected.
For the fiscal year ending Oct. 31, Toll Brothers expects to deliver 5,900 to 6,200 homes, compared with a previous estimate of 5,800 to 6,300 homes.
“Average selling price for the fiscal year is expected to be to $840,000-$850,000, compared with Toll’s previous forecast of $820,000-$850,000,” according to Reuters.
At the time of this writing, Todd Shriber did not own any of the aforementioned securities.
