Why Centurylink Inc (CTL), L Brands Inc (LB) and Viacom, Inc. (VIAB) Are 3 of Today’s Worst Stocks

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It was a touch-and-go day all day long, with the indices teetering between a gain and a loss with a vote on the potential Obamacare replacement plan looming. Even after the House put some certainty back into the picture by approving the GOP’s bill though, traders remained on the fence. The S&P 500’s close of 2,389.52 was only 0.06% better than Wednesday’s last trade.

Why Centurylink Inc (CTL), L Brands Inc (LB) and Viacom, Inc. (VIAB) are Three of Today's Worst StocksNot every stock managed to merely tread water though. Centurylink Inc (NYSE:CTL), L Brands Inc (NYSE:LB) and Viacom, Inc. (NASDAQ:VIAB) all ended the day deep in the red, and couldn’t do one thing about it.

Here’s the deal.

Viacom, Inc. (VIAB)

The good news is, video entertainment giant topped last quarter’s earnings and revenue expectations. The bad news is, cable companies aren’t as keen on its programming as they used to be, posing a threat to the company’s bottom line.

For the quarter ending in March, Viacom earned 79 cents per share on revenue of $3.26 billion. Analysts were only looking for sales of $3.02 billion and a profit of 59 cents per share of VIAB.

Still, net income was down 60% year-over-year, and could get worse for VIAB before it gets better. Cable company Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR) re-categorized its cable packages, pushing Viacom channels — which include MTV, Comedy Central and Nickelodeon — to higher-priced tiers. This could translate into falling revenue-bearing viewership for Viacom.

Concerned shareholders sent VIAB to a loss of 7.1% for the session.

L Brands Inc (LB)

L Brands, the company that owns Victoria’s Secret and Bath & Body Works, posted its April sales results this morning, and they weren’t great. All told, same-store sales fell 5% last month.

That wasn’t the core reason LB shares plunged 6.9% on Thursday, however. You can blame most of that on the well-reasoned pessimism voiced by Jefferies analyst Randal Konik. He wrote “Core lingerie remains down and PINK growth is slowing which means share losses are accelerating.” Based on what he sees right now, Konik believes L Brands is headed for a three-year stretch of deteriorating earnings.

The company did offer some good news — it expects to earn 30 cents per share versus the 25 cents per share of LB analysts expect. Nevertheless, that’s only about half of the 59 cents per share it earned in the same quarter a year earlier.

Centurylink Inc (CTL)

Last but not least, telecom middleman Centurylink fell short of its first-quarter earnings and revenue estimates, and CTL owners paid the price for it.

Last quarter, Centurylink earned 52 cents per share on revenue of $4.21 billion. Analysts were calling for revenue of $4.27 billion and a profit of 53 cents per share of CTL.

The shortcoming caught the attention of several analysts, most of whom are very concerned. Jefferies analyst Mike McCormack noted, “We remain skeptical on the revenue improvements, given prior missed expectations, and our belief that continued legacy revenue losses will likely offset the benefits of any Strategic revenue gains.”

CTL ended the day down 6.7%.

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/why-centurylink-inc-ctl-l-brands-inc-lb-and-viacom-inc-viab-are-3-of-todays-worst-stocks/.

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