Dell Inc. (DELL), Renren Inc (RENN), Cisco Systems, Inc. (CSCO): This Week’s Dumbest Stock Moves

Now, there’s initially some logic to that. The payroll tax increase hurts the lower and middle class that Wal-Mart relies on for the bulk of their business. If folks have 2% less in take-home pay, they will naturally have less to spend after their bills are paid.

However, isn’t Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) the low-price leader? Shouldn’t shoppers be trading down to the leading discounter to stretch their leaner disposable income?

More importantly, Wal-Mart’s comps couldn’t even keep up with inflation — up less than 2% last year and flat the year before — during the years where the payroll tax cut was supposedly stimulating the economy. There’s something more happening at Wal-Mart, and it’s a taxing dilemma for shareholders.

5. Shamu is all wet
Companies going public only have one chance to make a first impression.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (NYSE:SEAS) fell short in its first quarter as a public company. The theme park operator missed Wall Street’s profit targets in its quarter of trying to live up to historically conservative estimates. SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (NYSE:SEAS)’s net income of $0.41 a share fell woefully short of the $0.51 a share that the market was expecting.

A sharp decline in traffic resulted in a weaker profit than what the pros were targeting. The gamble to raise ticket prices resulted in fewer turnstile clicks. SeaWorld Entertainment Inc (NYSE:SEAS) can get through this, but if this is a sign of things to come, investors had no reason bidding up the shares the day that it went public.

Shamu’s the only one making a big splash here.

The article This Week’s 5 Dumbest Stock Moves originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Rick Munarriz.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO).

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