Ten companies were hit hard on Friday as investors digested disappointing earnings performance and dismal outlook guidance for 2025.
The shares’ performance traded in line with Wall Street’s major indices, with the Dow Jones losing 0.99 percent, the S&P 500 falling 0.95 percent, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq diving 1.36 percent.
To come up with Friday’s worst performers, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.
Stock market reports printed on a sheet of paper. Photo by RDNE Stock Project on Pexels
10. Dun & Bradstreet Holdings Inc. (NYSE:DNB)
Dun & Bradstreet dropped for a second day on Friday, losing 7.42 percent to close at $11.23 apiece as investors took profits following a surge in the previous day’s trading, fueled by reports that it was being targeted for acquisition by a fund management company for around $5.4 billion.
DNB, which has been exploring a sale since August 2024, was said to be nearing takeover by Veritas Capital Fund Management.
If successful, the takeover would mark the second time in seven years that the company has been acquired. In 2018, a group of investors led by CC Capital, Cannae Holdings, and Thomas H. Lee Partners, joined forces to take over DNB for a total value of $6.9 billion.
According to reports, DNB is also exploring other options, such as separating its finance and risk unit from the sales and marketing business.
Additionally, investors repositioned their portfolios ahead of DNB’s release of its earnings performance in the fourth quarter and full year of 2024.
9. Marvell Technology Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Shares of Marvell Technology declined by 7.23 percent on Friday to end at $110.62 apiece as investors resorted to profit-taking following a surge in its value on Thursday.
MRVL, a semiconductor company supplying products to Amazon, earned a boost from AMZN’s announcement that it would continue to spend billions of dollars in growing its Amazon Web Services unit, which means more spending on AI chips, network equipment, and data center infrastructure.
Late last year, MRVL and AMZN entered into a five-year agreement under which MRVL would supply AMZN with custom chips and other data center equipment.
MRVL can be partly owed to the success of AMZN’s AWS custom Trainium 2 AI chip, with AMZN announcing plans to compete with giant chipmaker Nvidia Corp. with its own chips and server offerings.
8. Lumentum Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LITE)
Lumentum Holdings declined by 7.31 percent on Friday to end at $85.90 apiece as investors resorted to profit-taking following the company’s surge in the prior trading fueled by an impressive earnings performance for the second quarter of fiscal year 2025.
During the period, LITE said it was able to exceed its high-end guidance for both revenue and earnings per share driven by a strong demand in the cloud end market.
In the last quarter alone, net revenues increased by 9.65 percent to $402.2 million from the $366.8 million registered in the same period a year earlier, pushing net revenues for the first six months higher by 8 percent at $739.1 million from $684.4 million.
Given stronger revenues, LITE was able to narrow its net loss for the quarter by 38.5 percent to $60.9 million from $99.1 million.
Net loss for the first six months was also trimmed by 14.19 percent to $143.3 million from $167 million.
“With our strong market position and improving industry trends, we remain confident in achieving our previously stated goal of reaching $500 million in quarterly revenue by the end of calendar year 2025,” said LITE President and CEO Alan Lowe.
7. Semtech Corp. (NASDAQ:SMTC)
Semiconductor manufacturer Semtech Corp. dropped for a second day on Friday, losing another 9.9 percent to finish at $54.51 apiece after an analyst downgraded the company’s price target, citing slower take-up in the chipmaker’s products.
On Friday, Baird analysts lowered their price target for SMTC to $60 from $80 previously, while maintaining an “outperform” rating on the stock.
The analysts cited slower-than-expected take-up in SMTC’s active copper cables (ACC), which offer extended reach to allow for high-volume switch-to-server connections.
The brokerage firm also noted that it observed muted activity in overall ACC take-up.
“ACC benchmarking activity has been muted in the past few months outside of Meta. ACCs and LPOs remain a medium-term opportunity for Semtech and are the basis for our Outperform rating; however, investors should brace for near-term turbulence,” Baird said in its note.
6. Avantor Inc. (NYSE:AVTR)
Avantor saw its share prices fall for a third consecutive day, losing another 11.71 percent on Friday to finish at $19.16 apiece as investor sentiment was dampened by mixed earnings performance in the fourth quarter of the year.
While AVTR registered a 408-percent jump in net income for the fourth quarter of 2024, net revenues, however, dipped to $1.69 billion from $1.7 billion.
Net income in full year 2024 also surged by 121 percent to $711.5 million from $321.1 million year-on-year.
Higher net income was boosted by a surge in operating income for both the fourth quarter and the full year.
Avantor is a life science tools company that aims to provide mission-critical products and services to the life sciences and advanced technology industries.
5. Skechers USA Inc. (NYSE:SKX)
Footwear giant Skechers fell by 12.68 percent on Friday to finish at $66.03 apiece as investor sentiment was weighed down by potential headwinds and uncertainties from the growing trade tensions between the US and China.
According to reports citing SKX Chief Finance Officer John Vandemore, President Donald Trump’s move to impose tariffs on China has impacted SKX’s visibility and will likely lead to a reallocation of certain production, vendor concessions, and pricing.
“While we have not yet fully factored their potential impact and our response into the following guidance, it will likely comprise a combination of actions, including the reallocation of certain production, vendor concessions, and pricing,” he said.
The drop in its valuation demonstrated investor pessimism as traders snubbed reports of SKX’s impressive performance last year.
Last quarter, SKX said attributable net income rose by 13.9 percent to $99.3 million from the $87.2 million reported in the same period a year earlier, pushing attributable net profit for the full year 2024 higher by 17 percent to $639.5 million from $545.8 million.
4. Neurocrine Biosciences Inc. (NASDAQ:NBIX)
Neurocrine shares dived 18.53 percent on Friday, a third consecutive day, as investors digested the company’s lackluster fourth-quarter earnings performance and conservative outlook guidance for 2025.
In its earnings release, NBIX said net income in the last quarter fell by 30 percent to $103.1 million from the $147.7 million reported in the same period last year, despite revenues increasing by 21.8 percent to $627.7 million from $515.2 million.
Revenues for the full year increased by 24.8 percent to $2.355 billion from $1.887 billion, pushing net income higher by 36.68 percent at $341.3 million versus the $249.7 million registered in 2023.
For this year, NBIX merely reported a conservative outlook, saying full-year net product sales are projected to settle between $2.5 billion and $2.6 billion.
“With a rapidly advancing and growing pipeline and a strong financial profile, we are well positioned to build a leading neuroscience company,” said NBIX CEO Kyle Gano.
3. elf Beauty Inc. (NYSE:ELF)
Elf Beauty tumbled 19.62 percent on Friday to close at $71.13 apiece as investor sentiment was weighed down by a lowered earnings outlook for fiscal year 2025.
In its latest earnings release, ELF lowered its full year 2025 outlook to $1.3 billion and $1.31 billion from $1.31 billion to $1.33 billion previously.
“Given softer-than-expected trends in January, we are taking a prudent approach and lowering our outlook for the final quarter of our fiscal year. Our updated outlook for fiscal 2025 reflects an expected 27-28 percent year-over-year increase in net sales, as compared to an expected 28-30 percent increase previously,” said ELF Chief Finance Officer Mandy Fields.
In the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, ELF saw net income drop by 35.8 percent to $17.26 million from $26.89 million, while net income for the first nine months fell by 26 percent to $83.8 million from $113 million year-on-year.
2. Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL)
Newell declined for a second day on Friday as investors sold off positions following a dismal earnings performance last year.
In the last quarter of 2024, NWL said net sales fell by 8.4 percent to $1.9 billion from $2.076 billion in the same period last year, while net sales for the full year 2024 declined to $7.5 billion from the $8.13 billion in 2023.
NWL was able to narrow its net loss by 37 percent to $54 million from $86 million during the quarter as well as for the full year—by 44.3 percent at $216 million from $388 million.
Furthermore, NWL expected even lower net sales for the full year 2025, declining between 2 to 4 percent.
NWL is one of the leading consumer goods companies that owns brands such as Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Graco, Coleman, Rubbermaid Commercial Products, Yankee Candle, Paper Mate, FoodSaver, Dymo, EXPO, Elmer’s, Oster, NUK, Spontex and Campingaz.
1. Bill Holdings Inc. (NYSE:BILL)
Bill Holdings plummeted by 35.52 percent on Friday to end at $62.13 per share as investors appeared to have snubbed its strong earnings performance last year amid lower-than-expected revenue guidance for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.
In its latest earnings call, BILL said it projects revenues in the third quarter to settle between $352.5 million to $357.5 million, way below the $360.4 million analysts projected.
For the full year, BILL expects revenues to end between $1.45 billion and $1.47 billion.
In the last quarter, BILL swung to a net income of $33.55 million from a $40.4 million net loss. It also achieved a net income of $42.46 million in six months ending December, reversing a net loss of $68.28 million.
BILL is a company providing financial operations platforms for small and midsize businesses (SMBs).
While we acknowledge the potential of BILL as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than BILL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.
Disclosure. None. Insider Monkey focuses on uncovering the best investment ideas of hedge funds and investors. Please subscribe to our daily free newsletter to get the latest investment ideas from hedge funds’ investor letters by entering your email address below.
