The markets are headed off to a weak start this morning, as data points to a weak economy due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yesterday, data on private payrolls showed that only 167,000 thousand jobs were created in July, falling short of the numbers that the markets were expecting.
The data also revealed that those jobs created were not really new jobs, but a recovery of old jobs that were lost after the pandemic lockdown. With such weak numbers for July, analysts are projecting that the next ADP numbers could be flat. All this points to an economy that has not yet entered a recovery phase. There is also the fact that Democrats and Republicans are yet to agree on a bailout package for the economy. Despite this environment of weakness, there are stocks that are gaining upside momentum in pre-market trading. Most of the top performers are stocks that have reported stronger than expected earnings. Some of the top performers pre-market are as below:
Bausch Health Companies Inc [NYSE:BHC]
This is a top performer this morning and is already up by 30% in pre-market trading. This comes after the company released Q2 results that pointed to a strengthening of its financial position. It reported that its international arm made up 53% of its total revenues.
The company also reported that the Salix segment specifically contributed 24% to its total revenues, while its Ortho Dermatologics business generated about 7% of the business. Besides revenues, one of the key highlights of the Q2 results is that the company was able to reduce its debt by 100 million in Q2 with money that it raised from its operations. The company also reported that it has no debt maturities for the next 3 years.
Beam Therapeutics Inc [NASDAQ:BEAM]
Beam Therapeutics Inc is another top performer pre-market and is up by 23%. This stock is in the green ahead of its investor conference that will take place today at 1 p.m. Eastern Time and will be live on the company’s website. Investors are looking forward to news on progress on the company’s projects especially on MGTA-117, a collaborative project between Beam Therapeutics and Magenta Therapeutics for people suffering from beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease.
Tivity Health Inc [NASDAQ:TVTY]
Tivity Health Inc is another top performer this morning and is up by 21% pre-market. Its rally follows a strong Q2 that saw revenues beat analysts’ projections. Analysts were expecting it to report an EPS of $0.25, but it reported an EPS of $0.79. Not only did the results beat analysts’ expectations, it also was better than Q2 of 2019 when Tivity reported an EPS of $0.64. This is likely to support bullish sentiment in this stock in today’s session.
