Good afternoon, Foolish readers. The S&P/ASX 200 (INDEXASX: ^AXJO)(ASX: XJO) continued its downward slide today, losing 0.7% to 4,857 points at the time of writing.
These four shares managed to buck the trend however, and all rose significantly. Here's why:
Woolworths Limited (ASX: WOW) rose 4.3% to $23.64 after it announced its intention to wind up or sell its Masters Hardware business, determining that the company could not continue to sustain the losses until Masters became profitable – which could have been some time away. It's a rare piece of positive news (if you think selling Masters is a good idea) for Woolworths shareholders lately, although the company continues to face issues on other fronts, namely Big W and in the grocery business.
Metcash Limited (ASX: MTS) shares gained 5.9% to $1.60 today, likely as a result of Woolworths' announcement – Metcash owns Mitre 10, a competing hardware chain. It's a rare piece of news that lifts both Metcash's and Woolworths' share price, but it remains to be seen how much Mitre 10 will benefit from the reduction in competition. Metcash shares are up 3.5% for the year, and down 62% in the past five years.
Ziptel Ltd (ASX: ZIP) skyrocketed 17% to $0.51 today after the company posted strong subscriber growth in its target markets, hitting 6 million installs in the past 30 weeks. Based on current growth, management expects the company could hit its target 10 million installations some 8 months ahead of schedule. Despite the progress, Ziptel shares are up just 2.3% in the past twelve month, and down more than 50% since highs of above $1.25 reached in September last year.
Reffind Ltd (ASX: RFN) jumped 7% today, also on the back of a positive market update as it announced contracts with big names; Staples, Bupa, Domain (operator of property portal Domain.com.au) and Sunglass Hut, among others. Reffind has announced a significant number of contracts over the past year, although investors should wait for further data on how much money it's actually making – as well as customer retention rates – before buying in too heavily.
