Wall Street’s main indices all finished in the green territory on Tuesday, buoyed by news that the US is set to temporarily delay taxes levied on select goods from Canada and Mexico to make way for a potential negotiation.
The Dow Jones inched up by 0.30 percent, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both jumped 0.72 percent and 1.35 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, 10 companies bucked an overall positive market sentiment, leading declines mostly due to disappointing earnings performance in the past quarter. This article details the reasons behind their poor performance.
To come up with Tuesday’s biggest losers, we only considered the companies with $2 billion in market capitalization and $5 million in daily trading volume.
A stock market chart. Photo by Arturo A on Pexels
10. elf Beauty Inc. (NYSE:ELF)
Shares of cosmetics giant elf Beauty saw its share prices drop for a third day on Tuesday, losing 5.38 percent to close at $88.44 apiece amid concerns over its January sales data.
In a report by Nielsen, elf Beauty reported a 2-percent decline in January sales including sales from Amazon, and a decline of 7 percent without sales from the e-commerce giant.
At 4:30 pm on Thursday, investors will be closely watching out for the release of the company’s third-quarter performance for fiscal year 2025, as well as indications about its outlook for the full year.
According to earlier comments from analysts, elf Beauty’s sales remain muted due to pressure in the cosmetics category, as the company seeks to increase its market share.
9. Centene Corporation (NYSE:CNC)
Healthcare company Centene Corp. dropped its share prices by 5.45 percent on Tuesday to end at $61.29 per share as investor sentiment was dampened by higher costs tied to its Medicaid plans, overshadowing better-than-expected earnings performance during the fourth quarter of 2024.
According to reports, as states redetermined the eligibility for Medicaid plans following the pandemic-era federal policy, healthier individuals were dropped from the list, leaving those who require more medical services which in turn added to insurers’ costs. Centene’s medical loss ratio settled at 89.6 percent during the period.
For 2025, Centene maintained its adjusted earnings per share (EPS) forecast of $7.25, but increased its annual premium and service revenue range to between $158 billion to $160 billion.
8. Moderna Inc. (NASDAQ:MRNA)
Shares of pharmaceutical giant Moderna declined by 6.51 percent on Tuesday to end at $34.17 per share as analysts pointed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s advancement in his nomination as secretary for Health and Human Services as having weighed down investor sentiment.
Just recently, the Senate voted in favor of Kennedy’s nomination as the department’s secretary, sparking fears among investors over his anti-vaccine stance. Despite his denial, Kennedy was said to be a prominent figure in the anti-vaccine movement, raising doubts about vaccine safety and efficacy.
If confirmed, Kennedy would be responsible for managing the department’s $3 trillion in healthcare spending and overseeing health insurance for hundreds of millions of Americans.
7. Ball Corp. (NYSE:BALL)
Aluminum manufacturing company Ball Corp.’s share prices dropped 6.9 percent on Tuesday to end at $51.84 apiece after missing revenue expectations for the fourth quarter of 2024.
In its latest earnings release, Ball Corp. said attributable net income in full year 2024 settled at $4.01 billion versus the $707 million registered in 2023.
In the fourth quarter alone, the company swung to a net loss of $32 million versus a $154 million net income in the same period a year earlier.
Revenues for the quarter also came in lower at $2.88 billion versus the $2.95 billion registered year-on-year.
For this year, Ball Corp. said it expects to book a 10-percent growth in comparable diluted earnings per share growth.
In addition, it is looking to enter into a strategic partnership for its aluminum cups business this year after failing to achieve “the level we initially expected.” The strategic partnership is expected to result in the deconsolidation of the business.
6. UBS Group AG (NYSE:UBS)
Investment banking firm UBS Group dropped for the sixth consecutive day on Tuesday, losing another 7.24 percent to end at $32.41 each as investor sentiment was dragged down by news that it laid off 10,000 jobs since taking over Credit Suisse in 2023. Investors discounted news of higher profits in the fourth quarter of 2024.
On Tuesday, UBS Group said its global headcount as of the end of 2024 stood at 108,648, down from 119,100 at the end of June 2023 when the group bought Credit Suisse.
The Swiss-based bank made the deepest job cuts following the takeover, initially slashing the workforce by 3,000 in the third quarter of the year.
According to a report by Bloomberg, several hundreds of employees were given notice in recent weeks.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, UBS Group said it achieved a net income of $770 million, smashing the $483 million analyst estimates. The lender also announced a share buyback program worth $3 billion.
5. KKR & Co. Inc. (NYSE:KKR)
Investment firm KKR & Co.’s share prices tumbled by 8.53 percent on Tuesday to end at $149.30 apiece after fourth-quarter assets under management fell short of expectations, dampening sentiment over its capital markets business.
According to a report, KKR’s assets under management (AUM) jumped 15 percent to $638 billion, but missed analysts’ projections of $643.4 billion.
The results underscored the challenges of navigating higher growth expectations even with the anticipated business-friendly regulatory environment under the Trump administration improving the outlook for deals and exits.
According to an analyst, KKR & Co. may see a pullback given that it has been the best performer among its peers over the past year.
4. Oscar Health Inc. (NYSE:OSCR)
Health insurance firm Oscar Health saw an 8.78 percent decline in its stock price on Tuesday to finish at $15.28 each after reporting mixed earnings performance in the fourth quarter of 2024.
In three months ending December 2024, Oscar Health said net loss expanded to $153 million from the $150 million registered in the same period a year ago. However, it swung to a net income of $25.4 million in full-year 2024 from a $271 million net loss in 2023.
Revenues for both the fourth quarter and full year came in higher by 67 percent and 57 percent, respectively.
For this year, Oscar Health said it targets to book between $11.2 billion and $11.3 billion in total revenues, or an increase of 23 percent year-on-year.
3. Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE:MRK)
Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. saw its share prices decrease by 9.07 percent on Tuesday to end at $90.74 apiece after providing a lower 2025 outlook guidance.
The company set a sales guidance between $64.1 billion and $65.6 billion in full-year 2025, or lower than the Wall Street consensus of $67.4 billion.
Likewise, its targeted earnings per share were lower at $8.88 to $9.03, as compared with analysts’ expectations of $9.21.
In the fourth quarter of 2024, Merck delivered a net income of $3.74 billion, which, albeit marking a swing from a net loss of $1.2 billion in the same quarter in 2023, was noticeably lower than Wall Street’s estimate of $3.92 billion.
For the full year, Merck reported $64.2 billion in revenues, representing a 7 percent increase from 2023.
2. PayPal Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:PYPL)
Shares of PayPal Holdings plummeted by 13.17 percent on Tuesday to end at $77.72 apiece following disappointing earnings performance in the fourth quarter of the year.
During the said period, PayPal registered a 20-percent drop in net income to $1.12 billion from the $1.4 billion registered in the same period last year. Revenues, however, were higher by 4 percent to $8.37 billion from $8.03 billion year-on-year.
Earnings per share were lower by 15 percent at $1.11 versus $1.29 year-on-year.
For the full year 2024, net income decreased by 2 percent to $4.15 billion from $4.25 billion in 2023. Net revenues, however, marked an increase of 7 percent at $31.8 billion from $29.77 billion in 2023.
Earnings per share inched up by 4 percent to $3.99 from $3.84.
1. Estee Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE:EL)
Estee Lauder saw its shares plummet by 16.07 percent on Tuesday to end at $69.47 apiece as investor sentiment was dragged down by news that it would cut 7,000 jobs following a sales slump.
In the second quarter of fiscal year 2025, Estee Lauder’s net sales declined by 6 percent to $4 billion from $4.3 billion year-on-year.
Gross profit dipped by 2 percent to $3.05 billion from $3.12 billion, while operating loss was at $580 million as compared with a $574 million operating income year-on-year.
Given the ongoing challenges in its Asia business, coupled with global geopolitical uncertainty, the company anticipates continued volatility and low visibility in the near term.
“While we are not satisfied with our third quarter outlook, it primarily reflects weak retail sales trends in our Asia travel retail business, which deteriorated in our second quarter driven by Korea. While our retail sales trends in Hainan were still negative in the second quarter, they improved sequentially, fueled by our retail activations,” said Estee Lauder President and CEO Stephane de La Faverie. “For the third quarter, we expect overall soft retail trends to persist in Asia travel retail, significantly pressuring our organic net sales despite the improvement we made with in-trade inventory levels in the first half of fiscal 2025, which we intend to maintain around current levels.”
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