Wall Street’s main indices all finished in the green during a shortened trading session this week, yet 10 companies–mainly technology stocks– still booked significant losses in their valuations. Let’s take a look at the extent of each company’s losses and the potential factors that could have dampened investor sentiment.
To come up with the biggest losers this week, we considered only the stocks that have at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.
A stock market graph. Photo by Alesia Kozik
10. Coeur Mining Inc. (CDE)
Shares of Coeur Mining on Tuesday ended flat at $5.84 apiece, holding steady compared to Monday’s share price. However, the stock price dropped by 7.01 percent over the past week as investors remained cautious over the result of an investigation on whether its merger with SilverCrest Metals Inc. would be fair to shareholders.
In October this year, Coeur announced that it was fully acquiring SilverCrest, pursuant to a court-approved plan of arrangement.
If approved by the court, the acquisition would add 21 million ounces of silver production to Coeur’s portfolio and would represent 56 percent of revenues from US-based mines and 40 percent of silver revenues.
In addition, analysts have raised concerns about the company’s increasing debt, which increased to $514.9 million from $443 million in the same period last year.
9. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA)
Shares of Walgreens Boost Alliance (WBA) dipped by 3 percent in the first two trading days of the week, to end at $9.19 apiece from the $9.50 on Monday.
Earlier this week, the company was in the spotlight due to reports of a potential buyout, which came following a 65 percent decline in the company’s valuation over the past year and by 88 percent over the past decade.
The pharmaceutical giant earlier admitted that it made a wrong decision in acquiring a majority stake in VillageMD, a medical group that was looking to rapidly expand its footprint.
Expansion outside of Walgreens’s geographical footprint also turned out to be unprofitable, and its plans to use the service as a funnel to its pharmacies didn’t work out. The company also faced further setbacks after VillageMD defaulted on a $2.25 billion secured loan that Walgreens had provided to the company.
8. Ambev SA (ABEV)
Brazil-based brewing company Ambev (ABEV) saw a 9.09-percent decline in its share price during the past five days and a 4-percent decline in the first two trading days of the week alone.
The company on Tuesday traded as low as $1.88, before closing the day a little higher to finish at $1.90 apiece.
Ambev, the company which owns Brazil’s top alcohol products, remains challenged by various macroeconomic factors including higher costs of energy, raw materials, packaging, logistics, and labor, which are putting pressure on its brewing operations across various countries.
The overall beer production in the US also fell by 5.6 percent to 193 million hectoliters, making it the only beer-producing country in the Americas to witness a downturn in production volume.
Thomas Raiser, Managing Director of BarthHaas, commented: “The brewing industry is still feeling the effects of the war in Ukraine; companies throughout the entire supply chain are laboring under sustained high costs. Consumers in many countries are groaning under the burden of high inflation. We therefore only expect beer output to remain stable for the current year, but are unable to identify a clear trend for the future.”
7. CleanSpark Inc. (CLSK)
Shares of CleanSpark (CLSK) dropped by 3 percent to $10.66 from the $11.08 opening price on Monday.
Despite the decline, CleanSpark’s stock remains significantly below its 50-day moving average of $12.96 and its 200-day moving average of $13.07. The company has a market cap of $3 billion and a price-to-earnings ratio of -17.69, reflecting negative earnings.
Analysts have revised their earnings per share (EPS) estimates downward from +$0.12 to -$0.30 over the past two months, signaling a more pessimistic outlook. CleanSpark is a leading Bitcoin miner, specializing in sustainable data centers powered by low-carbon energy sources. The stock price of the stock moves in tandem with bitcoin and the volatility in bitcoin price also affects CLSK’s stock price.
6. IREN Ltd. (IREN)
IREN Ltd (IREN), a company operating bitcoin mining data centers, saw its stock price fall by more than $2 since December 16th to close at $11.81 on Tuesday.
An analysis by InvestingPro said that Iris Energy’s current valuation appears to be “slightly undervalued” based on its Fair Value assessment, especially as the company continues to make strides in expanding its operations and diversifying into the artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing sectors (HPC).
The company has demonstrated impressive growth, with revenue surging 119.92 percent in the last twelve months and maintaining a robust gross profit margin of 87.67 percent. Investors are keeping a close eye on its expanding operations in both Bitcoin mining and high-performance computing (HPC), as well as its diversification into the AI sector.
5. Geron Corp. (GERN)
Geron Corp. (GERN) saw its shares drop by 4.3 percent to $3.34 from $3.49 apiece. Geron (GERN) is a biopharmaceutical company. Geron recently announced that the European Medicines Agency’s Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has recommended approval of its drug Rytelo for treating specific types of myelodysplastic syndromes. The European Commission will now review this recommendation, with a final decision on market authorization expected in the coming months.
According to analysts, the company continues to ingest news of the company’s earnings performance, with the firm still booking a net loss in the third quarter of the year—$26.4 million, albeit lower than the $44.8 million reported in the same period last year.
However, the first nine months of the year saw a higher net loss of $149.2 million as compared with the $132.2 million registered year-on-year.
4. Riot Platforms Inc (RIOT)
Riot Platforms (RIOT) saw a 15-percent decrease in share prices in the past five trading days, finishing Tuesday at $11.67 apiece from the $13.09 reported last Wednesday, with analysts attributing its shares performance to a correction phase.
As a Bitcoin mining firm, Riot Platforms directly benefits from higher Bitcoin prices, which can lead to increased revenues and profitability.
According to analysts, Bitcoin’s halving event could be one of the primary factors hurting Riot Platforms’ shares, which has significantly increased operational challenges for miners.
The halving means that each Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) miner needs to work twice as hard to mine the same amount of Bitcoin, but the anticipated price increase for Bitcoin has not occurred to balance the said challenges.
Riot’s Bitcoin production decreased 10 percent year on year last month, highlighting the operational inefficiencies and increased challenges the company faces due to the halving.
3. Micron Technology Inc. (MU)
Shares of Micron Technology (MU) registered a whopping 18.95-percent decline in the last five trading days to finish Tuesday’s trading down to $89.28 apiece from the $110.15 close on Wednesday.
According to analysts, investor appetite was dampened by institutional investors’ recent revisions on the company’s share prices.
A recent analysis by financial institutions has led to adjustments in the price targets for Micron Technology’s shares.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., for instance, reduced its stock price estimate to $145 from $180 apiece, while maintaining an “overweight” stance.
Barclays also revised its evaluation, lowering the price target from $145 to $110, yet still regarding it as “overweight.”
Collectively, analysts’ adjustments placed the average price target for the company at $135.24, with most recommending a “moderate buy” stance.
2. MARA Holdings Inc. (MARA)
Bitcoin miner MARA Holdings saw its share price dive by 16.5 percent in the last five trading days of the week, closing at $20.15 from $24.12 on Wednesday.
In the first two trading days alone, shares were flat at $20.15 versus the $19.96 opening price on Monday.
According to analysts, investor appetite was dampened by disappointing third-quarter results, including a $124.8 million net loss compared to a $64.1 million net income in the same period last year.
Revenue missed analyst expectations by 8.8 percent, and earnings per share (EPS) missed estimates by 20 percent, further dampening investor sentiment.
1. Terawulf Inc. (WULF)
Terawulf (WULF) became the biggest loser in this week’s trading, booking a 23.28-percent decline at $6.23 apiece from the $8.12 at market open last Wednesday.
According to analysts, investors sold off on Terawulf’s shares following news that it was struggling to grapple with increasing Bitcoin mining costs.
The sharp decline followed growing concerns over rising Bitcoin mining costs, which have significantly impacted the company’s financial performance. In its recent filing, TeraWulf reported a loss of $0.06 per share in the third quarter of the year, worse than the expected loss of $0.03 per share.
On Monday, December 23, TeraWulf announced that AI and cloud provider Core42 would lease the infrastructure at its Lake Mariner facility in upstate New York. The announcement coincided with a 12 percent drop in TeraWulf’s share price, reflecting ongoing investor concerns.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.