The stock markets are down this morning as investors lose confidence that Democrats and Republicans could strike a stimulus deal within the week. Given how the economy has been weakened by the COVID-19 pandemic, failure to reach a deal could dampen the mood in the market as can be seen in the market sentiment today. Nonetheless, there are stocks that are doing quite well today, braving a drop in value across key indices. Some of the stocks doing well ahead of markets are:
Snap Inc [NYSE: SNAP]
Snap has released its financial report for its third-quarter earnings today, showing adjusted profits that have surpassed investors’ expectations. The company now has more than 250 million daily users and has also had a boot in digital ad spending. Several analysts had this to say about the company’s performance. Seana Smith said that they need to get on board considering Snap’s promising result. He notes that the shares have gone up 16%, and their daily active users keep increasing. The company is showing a promising trend that investors can jump on to make significant profits. Ines Ferre noted that adjusted earnings for every share are at $0.01, while the street was expecting to have a loss of $0.05 per share, but the financial reports showed otherwise.
VOC Energy Trust [NYSE: VOC]
VOC Energy Trust has announced today the third quarterly Trust distribution of its net profit for the period that ended on September 30, 2020. Unitholders expect to receive the distribution of about $1,445,000 that is equivalent to $0.085 per unit as of November 13, 2020. Oil prices have decreased significantly in the first six months of 2020 due to an oversupply of crude oil and decreased demand as a result of the effects brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. Oil prices are likely to remain low throughout the year 2020 and spill over to 2021, a situation that will have negative effects on Trust distributions. As a result, the prices of oil dipped, reducing the net proceeds that saw unit holders distributions reduced. If these prices remain low, the distributions will go low and might get depleted at some point in time.
Astrotech Corporation [NASDAQ: ASTC]
BreathTech Corporation, a subsidiary of Astrotech Corporations today announced that it has entered into a partnership agreement with Cleveland Clinic to carry out further research on Astrotech’s BreathTest-1000 mass spectrometer that will have the capacity to rapidly screen for COVID-19 symptoms. The main aim of this research is to develop a non-invasive kit that will identify signs of COVID-19 strains using breath samples. They aim to have a low cost and self-service kit that will see it mass-produced. Cleveland research team led by their Chairman Raed Dweik were the first to identify that volatile organic compound (VOCs) metabolites present in human breathes are suitable for detecting particular diseases. The team has so far published studies that show the use of metabolites to detect other diseases such as heart failure, pulmonary arterial hypertension, liver disease and asthma.
