11 Catalysts that can move the share price: While investing in the stock market, a number of times you may find that a new announcement regarding any company drastically spikes its share price within a few months. These are called catalysts.

The catalysts are certain special events (actual or potential) that are capable to push the share price of a company upwards or downwards in a short (accelerated) time period.

These catalysts may ‘not’ always push the share price upwards. However, most of the time, these catalysts allow the investors to get a fast profit by holding the share for a shorter period of time.

Moreover, the outcomes of these catalysts are comparatively easier to predict. Depending on the catalyst type, you can analyze whether the share price will go up or down. In this post, we are going to discuss the top eleven must-know catalysts that can move the share price of a company.

DISCLAIMER: Although most of the times these catalysts can move the share price of the company, however, there is no guarantee that the things will always work out as expected. Sometimes these catalysts may not be able to move the share price as much as logically predicted.

11 Must-Know Catalysts That Can Move The Share Price

1. Earnings release

A strong earnings report (which is more than what expected by the market experts) can be really good for the stock. The public takes this report enthusiastically and hence, the company’s share price is pushed higher. Further, this also raises the ‘bar’ for the future earning potentials of the company.

2. Mergers & Acquisitions

A merger occurs when two separate entities combine together to form a new joint organization. You can consider a merger as a corporate ‘marriage’. Whereas, when a company takes over another company and establishes itself as a new owner, then this action is called acquisition.

Mergers and acquisitions can push the share prices of the ‘acquiring’ and the ‘target’ company. However, here do take care of which company will get more benefits after the merger.

Read more here: What are Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A)?

3. Stock buybacks (Repurchases)

A share buyback is a situation when a company buys its own share back. This means that the company will purchase the outstanding shares and hence will reduce the total number of shares available in the market.

As stock buyback increases the value of the remaining shares. Hence, it increases the demand for the stocks of that company and pushes its share price in an upward direction.

4. Significant dividend announcement

A significant dividend announcement by the board of directors means that every shareholder will get a greater dividend per share. This will increase the demand for the stock and hence a rise in the share price can be expected.

However, in such scenarios, many times the share prices increase till the ex-dividend date of the company and might move a little downwards after the record date.

Also read: Dividend Dates Explained – Must Know Dates for Investors

5. Product launches

If a company announces the launch of a new product or the opening of a new plant that can help to generate more revenue in the future, then it will be taken positively by the public.

6. Stock splits

In a stock split, the company splits the share price into different parts. For example, in a stock split of 1:1, stock price splits into two parts. In a stock split of 1:5, stock splits into 5 parts. The fundamentals of a company remain the same in a stock split. There is neither an increase or decrease in the share capital or reserve in a stock split.

Stock splits make the company more affordable for an average investor. Further, it also increases the liquidity of the stock and its trading volume.

7. Bonus  

The bonus shares are the additional shares given to the shareholders by the company. This is a method of rewarding shareholders.

Although, there will be no noticeable difference in the wealth of shareholders as the share price of the company will fall in the same proportion after the bonus date. However, the announcement of the bonus shares is considered a piece of positive news as it will increase the dividends that you’ll receive in the future (as you will hold more stocks which will be added as the bonus in future).

That’s why the bonus announced by the company is taken eagerly by the crowd resulting in an increase in the share price.

Also read: Stock split vs bonus share – Basics of stock market

8. Spinoffs

What are spinoffs? – A company may have several products or services. When a larger company ‘Spins off” a division and split the company up in two, then it is called spin-offs. Shareholders receive stocks from both companies.

Here, the independent companies perform better as the management can focus more on the individual company. In addition, after spinoffs, there’s a better stock valuation for each company sedately as opposed to one big entity. The announcement of spinoffs will easily move the share price of the company.

9. Liquidation

Liquidation is bad news as it means that the business went bankrupt and will be terminated. While liquidation, the company sells everything it owns.

The shareholders who are owning this company might want to get rid of it or start selling their shares to some other people. Hence, the liquidation announcement acts as catalysts that can move the share price in a negative direction.

10. Lawsuits and investigations

Many public companies are sometimes investigated. There can be various outcomes while dealing with lawsuits and investigations. The company share price can move in different directions once the public finds out about it.

In general, during the investigation time, the share price of that company moves in a downward direction. It declines further if the company is found guilty. However, if the company is found ‘not guilty’, then its share price may jump in the upward direction.

11. Addition to the index

When a company is added to the index (such as nifty or Sensex), then the index funds have to purchase that company. This increases demand and pushes the share price.

Also read: What is Nifty and Sensex? Stock Market Basics for Beginners

Bonus:  A few other catalysts that can move the share price are ‘change in management’, takeovers, a spike in interest rates, political reasons, global issues, etc.

What can you do with this information?

Usually, most of these catalysts are ‘unpredictable in nature‘. It’s really difficult to predict when the company will announce the next bonus or a significant dividend (although few of these catalysts can be predicted by the experts, however, the exact news is known only after the announcement).

That’s why don’t make an entire investing strategy just based on this info. Take these catalysts into account and be ready for it.

In addition, you also need to follow the news regarding these catalysts in a ‘smart’ way. There are a lot of fake news or rumors in the market. Filter out the correct news before processing. You can use google alerts to get the relevant news.

Also read: How to Use Google Alerts to Monitor Your Portfolio?

Summary

There are a number of catalysts in the market that can accelerate the share price. These are the bonus information if known to the investors, can help to get profit within a short time period. Here are the top 11 Catalysts that can move the share price which we studied today.

1. Earning release
2. Mergers & Acquisitions
3. Stock buybacks (Repurchases)
4. Significant dividend announcement
5. Product launches
6. Stock splits
7. Bonus  
8. Spinoffs
9. Liquidation
10. Lawsuits and investigations
11. Addition to index

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That’s all. I hope this post is useful to you. Feel free to leave a comment below if you have any doubt or want to ask any questions. I’ll be happy to help you out. #HappyInvesting.

Kritesh Abhishek

Kritesh (Tweet here) is the Founder & CEO of Trade Brains & FinGrad. He is an NSE Certified Equity Fundamental Analyst with +7 Years of Experience in Share Market Investing. Kritesh frequently writes about Share Market Investing and IPOs and publishes his personal insights on the market.