A decent retail sales report for July got the market started on the right foot Thursday. When push came to shove later in the session, though, traders still had their doubts. The S&P 500 ended the session at 2,083.39, down 0.13% and trapped squarely at the intersection of Indecision St. and Uncertainty Ave.
It was much, much worse for owners of Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE:KSS), Continental Resources, Inc. (NYSE:CLR) and and Shake Shack Inc. (NYSE:SHAK), though. These three names finished the day deep in the hole.
Kohl’s (KSS)
It may be winding down, but the second-quarter earnings season isn’t quite over yet. Just ask shareholders of retailer Kohl’s (KSS), who saw that stock fall nearly 9% on Thursday following disappointing Q2 numbers.
Last quarter, the company earned $1.07 per share on $4.27 billion in sales. Analysts, however, were looking for a profit of $1.14 per share of KSS and $4.31 billion in revenue.
The company noted that same-store sales growth slumped from 1.3% a year ago to just 0.1% in the most recent quarter, as many would-be shoppers steered clear of stores in July — the last month of its second fiscal quarter — waiting instead for various states’ tax-free sales days in August.
That slow sales growth is expected to be offset in the current quarter.
Continental Resources (CLR)
Just for the record, most oil and energy stocks finished the day deep in the red on Thursday. Continental Resources, however, dished out the biggest losses to the most people. CLR finished the session down almost 7%.
The prod for the sharp pullback from CLR, of course, was yet another tumble in oil and gas prices. This tumble, however, was unique in the sense that it carried crude oil futures to a low not seen in more than six years. Contracts finished the day near $42.90 per barrel, down 2.5%.
The pullback in crude oil prices was largely spurred by reports from oil-market research outfit Genscape, which forecasted that stockpiles of crude at a critical Cushing, Oklahoma hub grew by 1.3 million barrels last week. If an accurate outlook, it would be the largest swell in months.
Shake Shack (SHAK)
Last but not least, though owners of fad restaurant stock Shake Shack knew it was coming, the reality of its secondary offering still managed to spook SHAK owners today once it was priced, and after the market had a couple of days to digest its second-quarter numbers.
The specifics: Shake Shack is going to issue 4 million shares of SHAK at $60 apiece. The company won’t be receiving any of the proceeds from the sale. Rather, the sale effectively serves as an exit for a few large insiders who were up until this point restricted from selling any of their stake. The introduction of these new SHAK shares will dilute the existing float of 5.87 million shares, crimping the per-share performance beginning as of the current quarter’s results announcement.
The injection of another 4 million Shake Shack shares will also make it easier to short the stock, which some speculators have been more than happy to do.
SHAK closed nearly 16% lower today.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
