Why Pandora Media Inc (P), eBay Inc (EBAY) and VMware, Inc. (VMW) Are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

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With confirmation in hand that the Federal Reserve is indeed concerned about the sluggish state of the global economy (and thereby suggesting it might be a while before interest rates edge higher), the bulls went to work again today. The S&P 500 advanced 0.88%, closing at 2,013.43. That was enough to push the index above some key technical resistance levels.

Why Pandora Media Inc. (P), eBay Inc. (EBAY) and VMware, Inc. (VMW) Are 3 of Today's Worst StocksIt wasn’t a winning day for every stock, however. VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW), Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P) and eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) all finished the day considerably lower than where they finished Wednesday’s trading. Here’s what happened.

eBay Inc (EBAY)

Shares of eBay were among the hardest hit on Thursday, for a couple of different reasons.

The biggest of the two was an obscure report from obscure research outfit ChannelAdvisor, which takes detailed monthly looks at some of the e-commerce industry’s biggest names … including eBay.

Long story made short, ChannelAdvisor reported today that eBay’s “same store sales” equivalent metric for last month was 1.1%. That’s one of the lowest monthly same-store-sales scores in years, and may point to trouble ahead for the online-auction site.

Fanning the bearish flames was news that Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) was opening an online store designed explicitly to sell handmade goods, in the same vein as Etsy Inc. (NASDAQ:ETSY). While handmade crafts aren’t a huge part of eBay’s business, it’s another headwind at a time EBAY has enough working against it.

All told, EBAY finished the day down 6%.

VMware Inc. (VMW)

It took the market a day to connect all the dots and get a feel for the weird love triangle that could materialize if privately-held Dell does indeed end up acquiring EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC). But, now that investors have proverbially and literally done the math, VMware is apt to be on the losing end of the arrangement.

Long story made short, PC-maker Dell is mulling the purchase of data storage and IT solutions and services company EMC … a good strategic fit. But such a pairing would almost certainly mean that EMC Corp. sheds its entire position of VMW stock. And, that’s no small amount. EMC owns 80% of VMare, and if those rumors of such a clause are true, it could flood the market with a huge supply of VMW shares.

It was enough of a concern to send VMW lower to the tune of nearly 6% today.

Pandora Media Inc (P)

Last but not least, Pandora Media shares lost almost 7% of their value on Thursday on news that the streaming digital music company would be acquiring event-ticket-sales outfit Ticketfly for a cool $450 million.

The good news is, it’s a new business venture for Pandora, diversifying how it drives revenue. The bad news is, it’s a new business venture for Pandora Media and forces the company into doing something it’s not especially familiar with.

Although it’s conceivable the two organizations could leverage each other’s customer list, the pullback from P says investors aren’t optimistic about the pairing. Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter flatly stated:

“We see little value added for Pandora beyond promoting artists, and note that Pandora has limited experience or aptitude in promoting or hosting concerts.”

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.

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Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2015/10/pandora-media-inc-p-ebay-inc-ebay-vmware-inc-vmw-3-todays-worst-stocks/.

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