- $XBIO pops on partner expansion news…
- $NWHM acquisition agreement sends shares higher…
- $SCKT gets hot on strong earnings…
Wall Street’s on track for a winning week as markets rise for the fourth straight session after starting the week on a sour note.
And while the major indexes are posting modest gains today, three individual stocks are running much hotter.
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XBIO Stock Catches the Attention of Retail Traders
Xenetic Biosciences Inc (NASDAQ: XBIO) was trading at a session high at writing, shooting up more than 146%.
The XBIO stock rally comes as retail traders pour into the biotech, with chatter swirling about this trade on StockTwits.
The run appears to have been prompted by an expansion for one of its key business partners.
Xenetic has an exclusive license agreement with Takeda Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd (NYSE: TAK) in the field of coagulation disorders and receives royalty payments under this agreement.
The Pacific Coast Business Times reported this week that Takeda broke ground on its expansion project for its facility in Thousand Oaks, CA.
The expansion “includes a new 15,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and a renovation of the existing 14,000-square-foot manufacturing space.”
Stephen Hatke, Takeda’s vice president of manufacturing operations and site head of the Thousand Oaks office, said, “The most exciting part and one of the core parts of this expansion is building out our health services and therapeutics area and allow us to serve patients that we don’t currently treat and illnesses that we don’t currently treat.”
Takeda’s $126 million investment “to build out its manufacturing operations to support new product lines” is likely to benefit Xenetic.
Fast Five About XBIO Stock
- Xenetic Biosciences was founded in 1997 and is headquartered in Framingham, MA.
- XBIO stock closed at $1.86 per share on Thursday.
- Trading volume surged to more than 89 million shares Friday.
- Xenetic Biosciences is “initially advancing cell-based therapeutics targeting the unique B-cell receptor on the surface of an individual patient’s malignant tumor cells for the treatment of B-cell lymphomas.”
- Xenetic’s proprietary drug delivery platform, PolyXen, has “demonstrated its ability to improve the half-life and other pharmacological properties of next-generation biologic drugs.”
NWHM Stock Pops on Private Acquisition News
Our next hot stock is New Home Company Inc (NYSE: NWHM). It’s rallying on news of an agreement to go private and be acquired by funds managed by affiliates of Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO).
NWHM stock popped more than 83% following the announcement.
New Home said the deal is an all-cash transaction for $9 per share, up 85% from where shares closed on Thursday.
The NWHM Board of Directors unanimously approved the deal with NWHM’s enterprise value of approximately $338 million.
The transaction is expected to close in the second half of the company’s fiscal year. New Home will become a privately held company and its shares will no longer trade on any public exchange.
New Home’s president and CEO Leonard Miller said, “I am extremely proud of our team and the progress we’ve made over the last few years in transforming the company into a more profitable, better positioned homebuilder.
“We are excited to enter into this new chapter together with Apollo, who shares our strategic vision for New Home as a platform for delivering quality homes and communities with award-winning design and unparalleled customer experience. By joining forces with Apollo, we will have the financial flexibility to build on our recent successes and take the company to new heights.
“As consumer demand for new homes accelerates amid limited supply, we continue to see exciting opportunities to invest in the residential housing market,” said Peter Sinensky, Partner at Apollo. “New Home’s consumer-driven approach and dedicated focus on integrating unique design and architecture has separated the Company as a best-in-class homebuilder. We are excited to work with the management team to execute on the Company’s growth strategy and provide more homes to consumers across the country.”
Quick Six About NWHM Stock
- New Home Company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, CA.
- The company describes itself as “a new generation homebuilder focused on the design, construction and sale of innovative and consumer-driven homes in major metropolitan areas within select growth markets in California, Arizona and Colorado.”
- NWHM stock closed at $4.86 per share on Thursday.
- Trading volume jumped to 4.4 million shares Friday.
- New Home Company was named the 2019 Builder of the Year by Professional Builder.
- The company received the Eliant Award in March 2020 for providing its customers with the best purchase and ownership experiences of any builder in the U.S.
SCKT Stock Rallies on Strong Earnings
The final hot stock of the day is Socket Mobile Inc (NASDAQ: SCKT), which is rallying after beating second-quarter earnings expectations.
SCKT stock jumped more than 125% at the open and was still trading 85% higher at writing.
The jump comes after Socket Mobile reported a return to profitability in Q2.
Here’s a breakdown of those results:
- Revenue rose 119% year over year to $6 million, primarily driven by the deployments of business applications in the retail industry.
- Gross margin increased to 55% compared to 50% for the same period last year as a result of higher revenues and absorption of fixed manufacturing overhead.
- Operating income was $814,000 compared to an operating loss of $810,000 in Q2 2020 and an operating income of $242,000 in Q1 2021, primarily due to modestly increased operating expenses offset by higher revenues.
- Operating expenses were $2.4 million, up 12% compared to operating expenses for the same quarter a year ago and 5% from Q1.
- Net income of $2.6 million included an adjustment of $1.9 million related to the recognition of tax benefit resulting from the disqualified disposition of incentive stock options as of June 30th, 2021. This adjustment increased deferred tax assets.
Socket Mobile president and CEO Kevin Mills said, “We are pleased with our strong performance for the second quarter of 2021. The deployments of business applications, particularly in the retail industry, have served as a key driver of our return to profitable growth we have had historically.
“The market opportunity and positive momentum we are seeing is encouraging as it validates our application driven business model. In line with our operating plan, we are investing in both technology and talent, while remaining disciplined on costs, so we can further strengthen our application developer tools to better serve the developer community.”
But Mills also warned about challenges from supply chain constraints and inflation he says “are impacting us as well as many other companies around the world. I’m proud of our team’s success in meeting customer demand and delivering a strong quarter despite the challenges.”
Six Picks About SCKT Stock
- Socket Mobile was founded in 1992 and is headquartered in Newark, CA.
- The company says it is “a leading provider of data capture and delivery solutions for enhanced productivity in workforce mobilization.”
- Socket Mobile’s revenue is primarily driven by the deployment of third-party barcode-enabled mobile applications that integrate the company’s cordless barcode scanners and contactless reader/writers.
- The company has a network of thousands of developers who use its software developer tools to add sophisticated data capture to their mobile applications.
- SCKT stock closed at $5.80 per share on Thursday.
- Trading volume jumped to more than 40 million shares on Friday.
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