Picking up where they left off on Thursday, the bears logged another big selloff on Friday… this one being the biggest single-day loss in years. Friday’s 3.2% stumble from the S&P 500 translated into a loss of 5.4% for the week, and left the index at the lowest close for the year.
Leading the charge lower were Deere & Company (NYSE:DE), Ross Stores, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROST) and Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU), which ended as three of the worst-performing names in the stock market today.
Here’s why.
Intuit (INTU)
Most stocks were down by more than a little bit on Friday, but among the biggest, Intuit was the absolute worst. INTU shares lost 13% of their value today following a disappointing earnings report and even more disappointing news that it was looking to shed some of its better-known divisions.
In its fourth quarter, Intuit earned five cents per share on $696 million in sales. The bottom line was better than the loss of 11 cents per share of INTU had modeled, but the top line was well short of expectations of $735.9 million.
The earnings outlook for the current year was also below current analyst expectations.
The company further aggravated INTU owners by telling them it was looking to sell consumer finance brand Quicken, as well as Demandforce and QuickBase, as it looks to move away from desktop software and move deeper into more lucrative cloud-based offerings like TurboTax and QuickBooks.
Ross Stores (ROST)
Despite a second quarter earnings beat that came on the heels of rising revenue, shares of Ross Stores also got crushed today after the retailer offered an alarming outlook. All told, ROST stock closed 9.5% lower on Friday.
The good news: In its second quarter, Ross Stores earned 63 cents per share on $2.97 billion worth of revenue, but analysts were only looking for a profit of 62 cents per share of ROST and $2.94 billion in sales.
The bad news: The company’s most recent profit projection for the full year is now between $2.40 and $2.45 per share, versus analyst expectations for earnings at the upper end of that range.
That being said, CEO Barbara Rentler may not have done ROST shareholders any favors by explaining,”The macroeconomic environment remains uncertain. While we hope to do better, we believe it is prudent to remain cautious in forecasting our business for the second half.”
Deere & Company (DE)
Last but not least, farm-machinery maker Deere & Company saw its shares tumble 8% lower on Friday after posting poor fiscal Q3 numbers and lowering its outlook.
For the prior quarter, Deere & Company earned $1.53 per share of $7.59 billion in revenue. Both topped expectations; analysts were only calling for earnings of $1.44 per share of DE stock on sales of $7.16 billion. But, both numbers also fell short of year-ago numbers. In the third fiscal quarter of 2014, Deere & Company earned $2.18 per share on revenue of $9.5 billion.
The real doozy was the company’s forward-looking guidance: Deere projected a 25% decline in full-year revenue, and lowered its expectations for full-year net income from $1.9 billion to $1.8 billion.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
