10 Firms Drop on Bearish Statements, Disappointing Earnings

Ten companies—mostly under the quantum computing sector—kicked off the trading week leading declines amid not-so-optimistic statements from chief executives and disappointing earnings updates that have weighed in on investor sentiment.

Meanwhile, Wall Street’s main indices ended mixed, with the Dow Jones and S&P’s main index the only gainers, up 0.86 percent and 0.16 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 0.38 percent.

In this article, we will take a look at what dragged the companies’ share prices.

To come up with Monday’s top losers, we considered only the stocks with at least $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.

A stock market data shown on a tablet. Photo by Burak The Weekender on Pexels

10. Joby Aviation Inc. (JOBY)

Joby Aviation (JOBY) kicked off Monday’s trading on a sour note, losing 8.92 percent to close at $7.96 after investment research firm JP Morgan downgraded its outlook for the company to “underweight” from “neutral” previously.

JP Morgan analyst Bill Peterson said he believes it was already time for an “altitude adjustment” for the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) company. His Joby rating went to “sell” from “hold,” but increased the target for the stock price to $6 from $5.

The “stocks began to inflect in the month leading up to the election and have sustained the outperformance over the rest of Clean Tech [sector] since the Trump victory,” Peterson said.

Joby, along with its counterpart Archer Aviation, “are trading as though [aircraft] type certification has already been successfully completed,” he said. Both are likely seen as “speculative tech beneficiaries aligned with the likes of retail favorites such as Tesla …and Rocket Lab,” he said.

9. SoundHound AI Inc. (SOUN)

Shares of SoundHound AI (SOUN) fell for a fifth day on Monday, shedding another 9.01 percent to finish at $12.82 each as investors resumed unloading portfolios after Meta Platforms CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared the same view as Nvidia Corp. CEO Jensen Huang that the practical use of quantum computers is still years away.

“I’m not really an expert on quantum computing, but my understanding is that’s still quite a ways off from being a very useful paradigm,” he said during an appearance on Joe Rogan’s podcast published on Friday, adding that many people think the technology is likely a “decade plus out.”

SoundHound AI (SOUN) specializes in voice AI technology, enabling natural language understanding and voice recognition for a wide range of applications. Its solutions power voice assistants, smart devices, and enterprise platforms, allowing businesses to integrate conversational AI for customer interactions.