Heavy Selling Drags Share Prices of These 10 Firms

Wall Street’s major indices finished mixed on Wednesday, though generally pessimistic, as investor sentiment was dampened by higher-than-expected consumer price data which fueled concerns of a potential inflation rebound.

The Dow Jones and S&P 500 declined by 0.50 percent and 0.27 percent, respectively. Only Nasdaq posted gains, albeit a marginal 0.03 percent.

Among Wednesday’s losers, 10 companies were the worst performers, primarily due to disappointing earnings results, dismal outlook guidance, and downgraded ratings, among others. In this article, we have detailed the specific reasons behind their lagging performance.

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

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10. Equinor ASA (NYSE:EQNR)

Energy company Equinor ASA saw its share prices drop by 5.64 percent on Wednesday to close at $23.27 apiece as investors sold off positions amid the company’s ongoing $5-billion share buyback program.

EQNR announced the plan for the share repurchase, including shares to be redeemed from the Norwegian State, in a bid to reduce the issued share capital of the company.

Last week, the company commenced the first tranche amounting to $1.2 billion.

In other news, the company announced plans to slash its investments in renewable energy over the next two years and boost oil and gas output amid macroeconomic factors, including growing energy demand globally, geopolitical tensions, and increased uncertainty in the commodity markets, as well as the uneven pace of the energy transition.

EQNR said it expects to grow by 10 percent with the new strategy by 2027.

The company has lowered its expected capacity in renewables to 10-12 GW by 2030, down from the 12-16 GW previously targeted.

9. Arista Networks Inc. (NYSE:ANET)

Arista Networks fell for a second day on Wednesday, losing 6.16 percent to close at $109.64 apiece as analysts pointed to insider selling as having dragged down the company’s price, while also repositioning portfolios ahead of its earnings release next week.

On Tuesday, ANET Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Software Engineering Kenneth Duda disposed of $9.25 million in the company’s shares at prices ranging from $114.02 to $117.14 apiece. The sell-off came after ANET’s remarkable 70-percent return over the past year.

The company, however, did not confirm the reason behind the selling spree, further adding to investor worries.

On February 18, investors will be waiting for results of the company’s performance last year, as well as its outlook guidance for the rest of the year.