Groupon Sacks Mason — Thursday’s IP Market Recap

by Marc Bastow | February 28, 2013 5:12 pm

[1]Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN[2]) was the big story of Thursday from bell to bell … and then a little bit after that.

During the day, Groupon’s shares plummeted 25% after a woeful Q4 earnings report saw misses on both the top and bottom lines[3] and suggested weakness in the current quarter.

After the bell, however, GRPN was headed strongly in the other direction following the daily-deals site’s announcement that it was ditching CEO Andrew Mason[4] and looking for new leadership. Executive Chairman Eric Lefkofsky and Vice Chairman Ted Leonsis will oversee the company until a replacement is found.

As for the actual trading day …

With two straight days of triple-digit gains[5] behind them, the broader indices tried to reach toward record levels Thursday, powered by strong economic news on the unemployment and business-activity fronts. A Labor Department report[6] showed jobless claims fell sharply last week, while a report from the Institute for Supply Management showed business activity in the Midwest region improving in February, with its index rising to an 11-month high.

However, an afternoon swoon kept the Dow Jones and S&P 500 from notching all-time highs and left investors with small losses across the board. The Dow dropped 0.15% to 14054.49 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.1% to 1514.68. The Nasdaq also dropped 0.1% to 3160.19.

Retailer JCPenney (NYSE:JCP[7]) watched its stock tank early, finally settling on a 17% loss following a disappointing Q4 report that included a $1.95 per share operating loss and its weakest revenues since 1987[8]. Competitor Sears Holdings (NASDAQ:SHLD[9]) didn’t fare quite as badly on the earnings front, narrowing last year’s $3.4 billion annual loss to only $930 million. However, it too lost ground, to the tune of 6%.

Barnes & Noble (NYSE:BKS[10]) announced that its Nook and e-book sales fell 26% compared with the year-earlier quarter. However, some think the results will spur a divorce of the retail and Nook businesses[11], and BKS shares actually finished up 3%.

Three Up

• Herbalife (NYSE:HLF[12]): Up 7.7% ($2.81) to $40.29.
• Radian (NYSE:RDN[13]): Up 4.3% (36 cents) to $8.81.
• Wendy’s (NASDAQ:WEN[14]): Up 3.6% (29 cents) to $5.70.

Three Down

• Nii (NASDAQ:NIHD[15]): Down 11.4% (62 cents) to $4.82.
• Cablevision (NYSE:CVC[16]): Down 9.6% ($1.48) to $13.99.
• RadioShack (NYSE:RSH[17]): Down 8.5% (28 cents) to $3.

Marc Bastow is an Assistant Editor at InvestorPlace.com. As of this writing, he did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2013/02/thursdays-ip-market-recap-aol-wen-jcp-sld-bks/

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