Why Bank of America Corp (BAC), Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (KORS) and iRobot Corporation (IRBT) Are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

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Despite the rocky start to Wednesday’s action, the bulls managed to partially regroup today and close some of the gap. By the time the closing bell rang, the S&P 500 was well off its low of 2,403.59 to end the day at 2,411.80. That was only 0.05% lower than Wednesday’s close.

Why Bank of America Corp (BAC), Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (KORS) and iRobot Corporation (IRBT) Are 3 of Today's Worst StocksNot every name was able to stage such a mid-day recovery, however. iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ:IRBT), Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (NYSE:KORS) and Bank of America Corp (NYSE:BAC) were all fighting losing battles.

Here’s what investors need to know about each setback.

Bank of America Corp (BAC)

BAC wasn’t the banking sector’s biggest loser on Wednesday, rather JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) was; and JPMorgan was arguably the biggest reason behind the its downfall. BAC and JPM are regarded as interchangeable, and when one gets sick, it infects the other.

The illness was trading revenue, or lack thereof. For the quarter-to-date, JPMorgan’s stock and bond trading activity is down 15% compared to where it was at this point in the same quarter a year earlier. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan said at the very same industry conference that his company’s trading revenue was only down between 10% and 12% for the quarter so far, adding that the year-ago tally was an unusually high bar to use as a benchmark.

Investors weren’t sympathetic though, sending JPM down to the tune of 2.1%, and sending BofA shares 1.9% lower.

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd (KORS)

As a not-so-gentle reminder that retailing continues to be a tough business, Michael Kors Holdings shares tumbled 8.5% today following a fiscal fourth-quarter report that topped expectations but was packaged with a dismal outlook.

For the quarter ending in March, luxury apparel and accessory name turned $1.06 billion worth of revenue into a profit of 73 cents per share, beating expectations of $1.05 billion in sales and earnings of 70 cents per share of KORS.

The company also said, however, it would be closing at least 100 of its stores to abate what was characterized by some as a “catastrophic” decline in sales. Revenue was down 11% for the quarter in question.

GlobalData Retail’s CEO Neil Saunders commented:

“In truth, ranges and collections lack oomph and definition, and across many established stores levels of service and merchandising are lackluster. In short, the brand is nowhere near where it needs to be if it wants to excite and inspire consumers.”

iRobot Corporation (IRBT)

Last but not least, robot manufacturer iRobot was downgraded today, pulling the rug out from underneath the stock. Don’t read too much into the analyst action though. It may have been more of a call to take some tidy profits than an assessment of the company’s future.

Canaccord Genuity did the deed, lowering its stance on IRBT to a “Hold”, while simultaneously lowering its target price to $90. Of course, with the stock up nearly 70% since the end of 2016 and up by almost 160% over the course of the past twelve months, it’s tough to imagine there being much more upside left.

That said, Canaccord is also worried about a lack of new game-changing robots in iRobot’s pipeline.

By the time all the dust settled, IRBT shares were down 7.1%.

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/2017/05/irobot-corporation-irbt-michael-kors-holdings-ltd-kors-bank-america-corp-bac-three-todays-worst-stocks/.

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