Stocks got Friday’s trading started on a firmly bullish foot. They didn’t end it quite as bullishly though, recognizing that September’s solid retail sales report upped the odds of a rate hike in the near future. By the time the session ended, the S&P 500 was at 2,132.98, up a mere 0.02%.
A lethargic day would have been preferable to what owners of Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR), Macy’s Inc (NYSE:M) and HP Inc (NYSE:HPQ) had to deal with though. These three names dished out more losses than most every other stock.
Here’s what went wrong for each.
HP Inc (HPQ)
More of the same isn’t necessarily a good thing for personal computing and printer giant HP … the sister to enterprise-oriented Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co (NYSE:HPE) after the two split late last year. HPQ shares fell 4.4% on Friday to top off what ended up being a 7% pullback for the week after the company delivered disappointing news on Thursday.
For fiscal 2017, HP now anticipates earning something between $1.55 and $1.65 per share of HPQ, versus analyst estimates of $1.61. As a further result of the tepid demand that resulted in tepid guidance, the company also announced it was aiming to lay off between 3,000 and 4,000 employees over the course of the next three years.
CEO Dion Weisler explained, “Our core markets are challenged and macro economic conditions are in flux right now.” And, he’s right. IT market data and analysis firm Gartner said earlier this week that PC shipments fell 5.7% during the third quarter of the year.
Macy’s Inc (M)
It’s not exactly a big secret that department store name Macy’s is in trouble. M shares have fallen 47% since their mid-2015 peak, mostly in step with the beginning of shrinking sales and earnings.
One would have thought that more than a year later, a new baseline to build on would have been established. One would have been wrong in thinking that, however. According to an analyst note from JPMorgan’s Matthew Boss today, who said of Macy’s “[We are] lowering 3Q SSS & EPS — Reducing Dec ’17 PT to $40. We are lowering our 3Q EPS to $0.36 or $0.06 below the Street at $0.42 reducing our SSS to -3.0%.”
M fell 3.3% today, while rivals Dillard’s, Inc. (NYSE:DDS) and Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS) also fell in the wake of industry-wide concerns from JPMorgan.
Twitter Inc (TWTR)
Last but not least, as if the 29% pullback Twitter shares had suffered since Oct. 5 when Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG, NASDAQ:GOOGL), Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Walt Disney Co (NYSE:DIS) all reportedly bowed out of the potential bidding war wasn’t enough, TWTR lost another 5% of its value when the last potential buyer — Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) — confirmed it too wasn’t interested in acquiring the microblogging company.
CEO Marc Benioff simply explained that Twitter is “not the right fit for us for many different reasons.”
With no knight in shining armor to deliver a rescue of the struggling company, Twitter will be left to its own devices to determine what the company is supposed to be and why advertisers might pay for it. The market’s not so sure a good answer is in the cards though.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
