Why Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM) and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW) Are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

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Another choppy day for the markets on Thursday ended like most of the other recent choppy days … with traders mostly undecided over whether it’s better to be in the market than out. The S&P 500 ended the session at 2,473.45, down a scant 0.02%.

Why Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG), Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM) and Lowe's Companies, Inc. (LOW) Are 3 of Today's Worst StocksThat would have been a major victory compared to the baths Qualcomm, Inc. (NASDAQ:QCOM), Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) and Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE:LOW) took today, however.

These three names couldn’t sidestep some pretty bad news.

Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (LOW)

Great news for Sears Holdings Corp (NASDAQ:SHLD) and mediocre news for Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) ended up being bad news for Home Depot Inc (NYSE:HD) and Whirlpool Corporation (NYSE:WHR). In terms of the total toll taken on shareholders though, home improvement retailer dished out the most pain to its shareholders, with LOW stock losing 5.6% of its value on Thursday.

The news a newly-forged partnership between Amazon and Sears … Sears will start selling “smart” appliances at Amazon.com. In that the alliance poses a threat to appliance rivals Home Depot and Lowe’s, HD and LOW shareholders responded in an unsurprising way.

It’s unlikely Lowe’s will suffer much from the partnership. Appliances — including Kenmore appliances — have been available via Amazon for some time now, and most consumers arguably still prefer to see what they’re buying in person before making such an investment. Still, the headline was enough to rattle LOW shareholders.

Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (CMG)

Given its myriad of hygiene and food-safety problems of late including being the source of a norovirus outbreak earlier this week, it’s hard to believe things could get any worse for Chipotle Mexican Grill. But, they did indeed get worse for the Tex-Mex restaurant chain today, and CMG owners paid the price.

The latest chapter in the increasingly sickening (somewhat literally) saga? One of its Dallas restaurants was home to at least three mice, which fell out of the ceiling near a patron’s table. It wasn’t a hoax either. The company confirmed a few mice did get inside the building through a small structural gap which has since been patched up.

Investors weren’t sympathetic, however, sending the stock down 4.5% today. It’s now down 10% for the week, and off 27% since May’s peak.

Qualcomm, Inc. (QCOM)

Finally, Qualcomm weren’t surprised to learn the company’s licensing revenue is under pressure now that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) is in the midst of a legal battle with the company. But, there’s just something about seeing it in print that drives the point home.

For the quarter ending in June, QCOM turned revenue of $5.371 billion into income of 58 cents per share. Sales were better than expected, while profits were worse. Both the top line and bottom line, though, were down big-time on a year-over-year basis.

The setback is the result of legal wrangling with the maker of the iPhone. Apple not only opted to withhold licensing payments to Qualcomm beginning earlier this year — claiming it was being overcharged — it also asked its technology vendors to withhold their licensing payments as well. A final ruling is still months away, if not years, and QCOM’s defense is anything but ironclad.

QCOM ended the day down 5%.

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


Article printed from InvestorPlace Media, https://investorplace.com/2017/07/why-chipotle-mexican-grill-inc-cmg-qualcomm-inc-qcom-and-lowes-companies-inc-low-are-3-of-todays-worst-stocks/.

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