The stock market rose to record territory on Monday, driven by enthusiasm about the prospects for continued economic recovery and progress against the COVID-19 pandemic. Lawmakers in Washington seemed ready to move forward with efforts to provide additional stimulus checks to Americans, fueling even more bullish flames. Starting at noon EST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^ DJI) rose 141 points to 31,289. The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^ GSPC) had risen 15 points to 3,901, and the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^ IXIC) rose 75 points to 13,931.
Shares of companies that recently made initial public offerings performed extremely well, as their favorable opening results further inspired investors who entered the first floor. On Monday, Palantir Technologies (NYSE: PLTR) and Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II (NYSE: SNPR) registered significant gains as the two companies advanced towards their respective strategic objectives.
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Palantir’s vision becomes clearer
Palantir Technologies shares rose more than 8% on Monday at noon. The data analytics firm that made its IPO last September is shrouded in secrecy, but a major strategic move has left shareholders excited about its prospects.
Palantir will now work with IBM (NYSE: IBM) and join IBM’s hybrid cloud data platform with Palantir’s application building operations platform. The move will strengthen the two companies’ efforts to help their mutual customers create applications using artificial intelligence, using the power of IBM’s popular Watson AI system to gain access to critical data insights in the hybrid cloud without extensive technical training.
The move will have dramatic implications for customers in several different industries. From retail and financial services to healthcare and telecommunications, companies work hard to extract massive data for insights. The joint platform offering aims to help these companies work more effectively and efficiently.
Palantir has worked in partnership with other companies on a number of projects, such as helping the oil giant BP (NYSE: BP) with their carbon neutral aspirations. As Palantir closes more deals, investors have a clearer view of what is behind the deal.
Closing a deal
The shares of the special purpose acquisition company Tortoise Acquisition Corp. II rose 34%. SPAC has only been open since November, but has already found a candidate for merger in a heated sector.
Tortoise will merge with Volta Industries, operator of charging infrastructure for public electric vehicles. The SPAC agreement places a company value of $ 1.4 billion in Volta, with institutional investors placing $ 300 million in additional financing to complement SPAC’s own cash in hand. Volta intends to use $ 600 million to build his charging network more quickly.
Volta’s business model is interesting. The company earns revenue by selling advertising on display screens attached to its charging stations, often working with companies close to the charger. Volta cites data that business partners are getting better sales metrics after installing charging stations, and the ads provide a revenue stream that other charging solutions don’t have.
Investors are extremely enthusiastic about EV-related actions and, therefore, Tortoise’s success in finding another promising company in the space was well received. It will be interesting to see how much more advantage Volta will have when the deal is finalized and the SPAC merger takes place in the coming months.