Why Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI), First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) and Symantec Corporation (SYMC) are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

Advertisement

Already oversold and ripe for a bounce, a mostly positive jobs report for October sparked an early rally on Friday. The economy added 161,000 new jobs last month, versus expectations of 175,000. By the time the closing bell rang, though, traders had changed their mind. The S&P 500 closed at 2,085.18, down 0.17% compared to Thursday’s last trade.

Why Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI), First Solar, Inc. (FSLR) and Symantec Corporation (SYMC) are 3 of Today's Worst StocksSome stocks ended the week on a particularly sour note, however. Among the worst were First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ:FSLR), Activision Blizzard, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATVI) and Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ:SYMC). Here’s what up-ended each one.

Symantec Corporation (SYMC)

The good news is, cybersecurity company Symantec Corporation met its fiscal second-quarter earnings estimates. The bad news is, it still swung to a loss. The market saw the glass as half-empty, sending SYMC to a loss of 7.7% on Friday.

On a non-GAAP basis, Symantec earned 30 cents per share on sales of $979 million. Analysts were collectively expecting revenue of $976.9 million and a profit of 20 cents per share of SYMC.

On a GAAP basis though, the organization lost 23 cents per share, and fiscal Q3 revenue guidance of between $1.02 billion and $1.04 billion falls short of the $1.11 billion analysts had forecasted.

Bolstering concern about the company’s future was news that current CFO Thomas Seifert would be stepping down at the end of November, to be replaced by former Blue Coat CFO Nick Noviello. Although Noviello is fully qualified, Seifert’s exit sends an alarming message.

Activision Blizzard, Inc. (ATVI)

By all accounts Activision Blizzard should be up today. The company beat its fiscal third-quarter earnings estimates, and year-over-year revenues were up 59%. Barclays even upped its target price on ATVI.

Yet, traders sent ATVI 3.9% lower today, driven by concerns that the video game maker will struggle to match its heroic third-quarter growth pace in the future.

Shareholders are particularly concerned that Activision Blizzard is already facing such a headwind. For the all-important fourth quarter — which includes the holiday shopping season — the company said it’s looking for a profit of 74 cents per share on $2.38 billion worth of revenue. Analysts had been modeling a profit of 80 cents per share of ATVI and sales of $2.48 billion.

First Solar, Inc. (FSLR)

Last but not least, solar panel maker First Solar delivered some alarming news on Thursday that took a 19% bite out of FSLR then, but shares lost another 5.9% of their value today as the market continued to digest the company’s third-quarter results and the red flag that started to wave yesterday.

Last quarter’s income was fine … even great. First Solar earned $1.22 per share versus expectations for a profit of 75 cents per share of FSLR. Revenue, however, was disastrous. The top line of $688 million missed estimates of $985.4 million by a country mile.

Worse, the company lowered its 2016 sales guidance from a range of between $3.8 billion and $4 billion to a range of between $2.8 billion and $2.9 billion. Of particular concern is a surprise glut in solar panels leading to a steep pullback in panel prices.

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

More From InvestorPlace


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2016/11/activision-blizzard-inc-atvi-first-solar-inc-fslr-symantec-corporation-symc-three-todays-worst-stocks/.

©2024 InvestorPlace Media, LLC