Stocks snapped back from a lackluster Thursday to finish the week on a bullish note Friday. The S&P 500’s close of 2,076.62 was up 1.23% from Thursday’s close, mostly spurred by news that the Greek debt debacle was finally being resolved. A significant lack of volume behind the move today, though, says most traders remain unimpressed.
Unfortunately for owners of Barracuda Networks Inc. (NYSE:CUDA), Dover Corp. (NYSE:DOV) and Biogen Inc. (NASDAQ:BIIB) the low-volume marketwide bullishness wasn’t infectious. These three names ended the week on a bearish foot, albeit for understandable reasons.
Biogen (BIIB)
It’s not clear if the two matters are related, but traders seemed more than willing to connect the dots on their own.
The first of the two focal points for investors today was a suggestion from Cowen & Co. that the recent bullishness surrounding the company’s much-ballyhooed Alzheimer’s drug BIIB-037 may mean BIIB shares pose more risk than reward. As Cowen analyst Eric Schmidt noted of the impending July 22 update on the therapy, “While we are biased somewhat to the positive side, we lack conviction in this binary event.”
Schmidt added that he didn’t see a statistically significant benefit from the drug in comparison to a control comparison, or placebo, at the six-month mark for the long-term trial.
Though benign on its own, considering the timing of today’s announcement that Biogen’s head of research was leaving the company, investors were understandably left wondering if his exit was an indirect clue that BIIB-037 wasn’t achieving the results hoped for. The doubters drove BIIB down 2.7%.
Dover (DOV)
Less than 24 hours after the company reeled in its earnings outlook for the full year, Credit Suisse lowered its price target on Dover shares, sending DOV nearly 3% lower on Friday.
The bad news: Machinery and parts manufacturer Dover now expects to see revenue fall between 8% and 9% this year, and about half of that loss will stem from an adverse currency environment. Earnings per share of DOV are now expected to roll in somewhere between $3.75 and $3.90, versus a current average analyst estimate of $4.12 per share.
In response, Credit Suisse dropped its price target on DOV from $77 to $74, though it maintained its “outperform” rating on Dover.
Barracuda Networks (CUDA)
Last but certainly not least, cybersecurity name Barracuda Networks fell nearly 19% on Friday in the wake of last quarter’s earnings report.
The numbers for its fiscal Q1 were more than fine. The company earned nine cents per share on $78 million in sales, and analysts were only expecting a profit of eight cents per share and $77.25 million in revenue. Both the top and bottom lines for the prior quarter topped their year-ago levels, too.
The problem was disappointing billings. Analysts were collectively looking for $103 million in the first quarter, but Barracuda Networks reported it only billed a total of $94 million. The guidance offered for the current quarter was also less than analysts were expecting.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
