Stock Market Today, Oct. 6: Corteva Rallies 12% on Analyst Upgrade Following Spin Off
Corteva (NYSE:CTVA) , a pure-play crop protection provider, closed at $13.91, up 12.27% after JPMorgan upgraded Corteva in premarket trading. Investors are watching how the company will fare as a stand-alone company, now separate from its seed genetics business. Trading volume reached 38.9M shares, coming in about 285% above its three-month average of 10.1M shares. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) closed at 7,820, up 0.59%, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) finished at 27,600, up 0.45%. Among agricultural inputs peers, Bayer (OTC:BAYRY) closed at $12.45, up 0.40%, and FMC (NYSE:FMC) closed at $9.02, up 0.22%; the group stayed on investors' radar as Corteva's upgrade and index reshuffling drew attention. It looks like Corteva is quickly becoming a Joel Greenblatt "special" of sorts following its recent separation from Vylor. While Vylor split with the "more interesting" business of seed genetics and a century-old germplasm library, Corteva's discounted, pure-play crop protection operations are worthy of not being forgotten about -- at least according to an analyst at JPMorgan. Continue reading