A stubbornly resilient stock market shook off early concerns about a new recession in Japan, and instead focused on calming words from European Central Bank President Mario Draghi to finish higher on the day among two of the three major indices.
Top sectors for Monday included utilities and healthcare; both have been among the leading sectors of 2014, and continue to rack up gains. Among the best stocks on Monday were Baker Hughes Incorporated (BHI), 3D Systems Corporation (DDD) and Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN).
Baker Hughes (BHI)
BHI surged ahead 9% today amid reports that it would be purchased by fellow oil drilling company Halliburton (HAL) for a cash-and-stock deal worth just less than $35 billion. BHI shareholders will receive 1.12 shares of HAL stock and $19 in cash for each share of BHI owned. BHI closed at $65.30 on heavy volume of 66.5 million shares. The stock hit $69.75 intraday before pulling back to close right on its 200-day moving average.
3D Systems (DDD)
DDD was higher by less than 4% on the announcement of 3DPrinting 2.0, to include several next generation printers and other manufacturing advancements. The new products will be announced at various trade shows in Frankfurt, Germany, next week. DDD also was featured last week as one of the top three market performers, and after declining from $63 in July, seems to be gaining in relative strength and is forming a price bottom in the mid-$30s.
Tyson Foods (TSN)
On the heels of a strong fourth-quarter earnings report, Tyson Foods blistered up nearly 6% to finish at $43.01 today, taking out recent resistance at $42. TSN said it earned $137 million, or 87 cents per share, when adjusted for non-recurring costs and merger-related costs and acquisitions. The TSN earnings report bested analysts’ forecasts by 10 cents. Revenue during the fourth quarter, which ended in September, was $10.11 billion, besting market forecasts of $9.88 billion, and was up from $8.89 billion in the year ago period.
As if that wasn’t enough, Tyson also announced a 33% increase in the quarterly dividend from 7.5 cents per share to 10 cents per share for its Class A common stock. The new dividend is payable on Dec. 15 for shareholders who own TSN stock as of Dec. 1. The combined news had investors cheering on the day.
As of this writing, Ethan Roberts did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
