Groupon Deals a Dud — Wednesday’s IP Market Recap

by Kyle Woodley | February 8, 2012 4:41 pm

[1] Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[2]) — one of the big initial public offerings of 2011 — dropped a dud after the bell Wednesday in its first earnings report as a publicly traded company, and GRPN stock was being hammered in after-hours trading.

The daily deals site reported a fourth-quarter loss of $42.7 million (8 cents per share). The figure was an improvement from a loss of $378.6 million ($1.08) in the year-ago period, and it came on an almost 200% increase in revenues, to $506 million. However, the adjusted loss of 2 cents per share came in under analyst expectations for a 3 cent-per-share profit, and investors took GRPN shares down more than 10% soon after the report.

Also on the IPO front, Caesars Entertainment’s (NASDAQ:CZR[3]) initial public offering was a hit with investors Wednesday, who drove the casino operator’s shares up more than 70% — to $15.39 — from their original listing price of $9. However, the IPO itself was fairly small, raising just $16 million[4].

Otherwise, Wednesday saw traders keep a close eye on Greece, with the major indices barely budging, though numerous big tech and financial stocks headed higher throughout the day.

Bank of America (NYSE:BAC[5]) finished above the $8 threshold for the first time since August, gaining 3.6% to finish at $8.13. Citigroup (NYSE:C[6]) also enjoyed a 3.5% gain to land at $34.23, and Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC[7]) was up a modest 1.2% at $30.63.

Among tech stocks headed higher were health care IT firm Cerner (NASDAQ:CERN[8]), which gained more than 13% on a fourth-quarter earnings increase of 30% on better-than-expected revenue, as well as increased bookings. Also up were graphics processor maker Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA[9], +3.6%) after news of a patent settlement with Rambus (NASDAQ:RMBS[10]), and semiconductor stock Micron (NASDAQ:MU[11], +3.7%), which earlier this week appointed Mark Duncan to CEO after the death of Steve Appleton.[12]

Buffalo Wild Wings (NASDAQ:BWLD[13]) was one of the biggest jumpers of the day, soaring more than 17% after reporting an earnings increase of 33% in the most recent quarter. The company also recently announced it would extend its testing[14] of Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL[15]) iPads for use by customers in its restaurants.

Three Up

• Computer Sciences (NYSE:CSC[16]): Up 18.5% ($4.91) to $31.39.
• Ralph Lauren (NYSE:RL[17]): Up 9.2% ($14.42) to $171.49. (Read more about Ralph Lauren here.[18])
• Hartford Financial (NYSE:HIG[19]): Up 7.6% ($1.46) to $20.58.

Three Down

• Western Union (NYSE:WU[20]): Down 10% ($1.97) to $17.73.
• Panera Bread (NASDAQ:PNRA[21]): Down 7.2% ($11.55) to $148.47.
• Dendreon (NASDAQ:DNDN[22]): Down 4.3% (69 cents) to $15.27.

Kyle Woodley is the assistant editor of InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. Check out recaps from previous trading days here[23].

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/02/groupon-grpn-stock-earnings-report-bac-cern-bwld/

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