UPDATE, CORRECTED: Why Are These Stocks Surging on Friday?

Natus Medical Inc (NASDAQ:BABY) advanced by 11% after the company’s Argentinian subsidiary had announced a deal with the Ministry of Health of Venezuela to provide medical supplies, equipment, and services to the country over a three-year period. Prepayments in the deal will be around $69 million under the current Argentinian Peso to U.S. dollar exchange rate. If fully performed, the deal could be worth $232.5 million, the company said. In an email statement, Natus CFO Jonathan Kennedy explained that the contract represents a fixed USD-based agreement, which provides payment in dollar-denominated bonds. The bonds can be converted into Peso and the company can decide regarding the timing and amounts of conversion, which insulates the deal against a declining Peso. “[…] we will only convert Peso to USD as we ship products at current spot rates,” Kennedy said. Shares of Natus are up 24% year-to-date.

Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAT) is up 5% after management delivered an optimistic third quarter conference call. CEO Chris Sinclar believes the company’s emerging market prospects are still bright and its China sales are healthy. Shares are down 23% year-to-date, but trade at 15 times forward earnings. However, smart money is underweight Mattel, as 23 funds from our database reported stakes equal to just 3% of the company at the end of June. Moreover, David Zorub, a partner at BlueMountain Capital has recently presented his short thesis on Mattel  (see details here).

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