The stock market moved lower on Wednesday, driven by rising concerns on the trade front that could have a negative impact on companies as they begin to announce their second-quarter financial results. The threat of new tariffs remains in place despite the announcements that the White House made in the aftermath of the G-20 summit meeting, and investors seem ill-prepared to deal with the consequences on those U.S. companies that rely on free trade for maximum profit. Yet some companies had good news that outweighed the downward pull of the major benchmarks. Seattle Genetics (SGEN +0.00%), AVROBIO (AVRO +0.00%), and First Majestic Silver (AG 2.19%) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Seattle Genetics gets a win
Shares of Seattle Genetics soared 19% after the biotech company reported its second-quarter financial results. Revenue for the quarter was higher by 28% compared to the previous year's period, with record sales of the company's Adcetris treatment for patients suffering from certain types of lymphoma. Seattle Genetics had expected that Adcetris would gradually start to show its superiority over more traditional forms of chemotherapy, and the latest results support that hypothesis. At the same time, Seattle Genetics also hopes that its enfortumab vedotin treatment for urothelial cancer will also gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, as that could help send future results even higher.
Image source: Seattle Genetics.
AVROBIO cashes in on its success
AVROBIO's stock rose 19.5% in a rare occurrence on Wall Street. Late yesterday, the gene therapy specialist announced that it would sell about $100 million in stock in a secondary offering, which would usually send share prices lower. However, AVROBIO said that it had priced the offering at $18.50 per share, which was only a roughly 3% to 4% discount from where the stock had closed the previous day. It also boosted the size of the offering to $120 million. Investors seemed to take that as a vote of confidence, and they therefore gave AVROBIO's newest investors a huge profit right out of the gate. Shareholders hope that AVROBIO will use the capital wisely in fostering its long-range development programs.
First Majestic gets back its luster
Finally, shares of First Majestic Silver finished up 9%. The silver mining company continued to benefit from favorable moves in the silver bullion market, where prices rose more than 2% to approach $16 per ounce. Precious metals investors hope that if trade tensions get resolved, the resulting boost in commercial activity across the world will raise demand for silver, which also has valuable industrial uses. Building on favorable production figures in the second quarter that it released earlier this week, First Majestic has the ability to keep taking advantage of rising silver prices as it works to make the most of its asset base.
