Wednesday was a surprisingly quiet day on Wall Street, with major benchmarks rising only modestly higher despite big news from the Federal Reserve. The U.S. central bank continued its rate-cutting trend, reducing its fed funds rate by a quarter percentage point for the third straight meeting. Yet investors didn't take that as particularly good news, especially given the Fed tried to curb expectations for additional future rate cuts. That didn't stop some stocks from posting big gains, though. Crocs (CROX -1.24%), Garmin (GRMN 1.36%), and MongoDB (MDB 1.11%) were among the top performers. Here's why they did so well.
Crocs runs ahead
Shares of Crocs soared nearly 16% after the casual-footwear maker reported its third-quarter financial results. Revenue jumped 20% to a record for the period, and adjusted earnings per share tripled from year-ago levels. The back-to-school season was particularly successful for Crocs, helping to lift sales in the Americas by 35% year over year. Revenue growth in Europe was weaker, and sales actually fell slightly in the Asia-Pacific region. However, Crocs is upbeat about the coming holiday season, and investors were glad to see the footwear company boost its guidance for full-year revenue growth. Once left for dead, Crocs has mounted an amazing comeback over the past couple of years and seems to have a long growth runway ahead.
Image source: Crocs.
Garmin makes a breakthrough
Garmin saw its stock rise almost 10% following strong third-quarter performance. Sales climbed 15% from the year-ago quarter, lifted by especially good performance in the aviation, fitness, and outdoor segments. Pro forma earnings per share were up 27% year over year. CEO Cliff Pemble credited "our lineup of great products in every market segment" for the successful quarter. Yet what might be even more important is the release of Garmin's new Autoland system, which will land small general aviation aircraft in the event of an emergency without pilot assistance. As aviation safety becomes a more pressing issue industrywide, Garmin is positioning itself to bolster its leadership role in that part of its business.
MongoDB forms a partnership
Finally, shares of MongoDB finished higher by 6%. The database platform provider announced a partnership with the cloud division of Alibaba Group under which Alibaba customers will get access to an authorized MongoDB database-as-a-service solution. MongoDB CEO Dev Ittycheria was pleased with the opportunity for his company to expand in China, which has already been a lucrative market for the database services provider. With new features available through the collaboration, MongoDB expects customers of all sizes to benefit, and investors hope that they'll see accelerating growth as a result to help the stock rebound from its recent slump.
