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.
Photo by George Morina on Pexels
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.
8. Cleveland-Cliffs Inc. (NYSE:CLF)
Cleveland-Cliffs declined for a second consecutive day, losing 6.55 percent to end at $10.56 apiece as investors appeared to have resumed profit-taking following an 18-percent surge in Monday’s share prices.
Investors were generally bullish on the company recently over expectations that it would benefit from the protectionism stance of the Trump administration, with the imposition of hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from other countries.
This means that US companies, including CLF, are expected to benefit from lower competition and higher prices.
Lourenco Goncalves, CLF CEO, earlier expressed his support for the imposition of tariffs on imports, saying that they can make a “long-term positive impact” in making “America a manufacturing superpower once again.”
7. Coty Inc. (NYSE:COTY)
Coty Inc. fell by 7.49 percent on Wednesday, the second day, as traders sold off positions following the company’s announcement of disappointing earnings results for the past quarter.
In a statement, COTY said its net income last quarter fell 83 percent to $30.6 million from $186 million year-on-year, pulling down its net profit from July to December by 38 percent to $121.3 million from $196.2 million year-on-year.
Net revenues for the quarter dipped by 3 percent to $1.67 billion from $1.73 billion, while six-month net revenues were flat at $3.3 billion.
In the same release, COTY cut its annual profit forecast primarily due to expectations of lower demand for cosmetics products.
The company, which operates the brand CoverGirl has seen weakness in the Asian travel retail business, particularly at airports and travel destinations in Asia, including Korea and China.
6. Venture Global Inc. (NYSE:VG)
Venture Global dropped its share prices for a third day, losing 7.70 percent to end at $15.23 each as investor sentiment was further dampened by a shareholder law firm’s investigation into the company for possible violations of federal securities laws.
On Wednesday, law company Levi & Korsinsky announced the commencement of its probe into VG following TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne’s statement that he was approached by VG to see if the company would be interested in a long-term supply contract for liquefied natural gas from the Calcasieu Pass terminal in Louisiana.
However, Pouyanne announced he rejected the offer “because of what they are doing,” underscoring his lack of trust.
VG is facing legal challenges from huge clients namely BP and Shell for the delays in supply contracts as it commissions its projects.
Meanwhile, VG said it was surprised by Pouyanne’s comments, but said that they continue to honor its contracts and execute the construction of its facilities safely and at a record pace.
5. Aurora Innovation Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR)
Aurora Innovation declined for a second consecutive day, ending Wednesday’s trading down by 7.86 percent at $6.45 each as investors repositioned their portfolios ahead of its earnings release on the same day that occurred after market close.
In a presentation posted on its website, Aurora said it narrowed its net loss last year by 6 percent to $748 million from the $796 million registered in 2023, as loss from operations decreased by 5.9 percent to $786 million from $835 million.
This year, the company said it would officially deploy its first driverless trucks on public roads, “ushering in a future of safer, more efficient freight transportation and immense value creation.”
“We are on the cusp of our planned Commercial Launch, a pivotal step toward realizing our mission to deliver the benefits of self-driving technology safely, quickly, and broadly,” said Aurora CEO and co-founder Chris Urmson.
4. Lyft Inc. (NASDAQ:LYFT)
Ride-hailing giant Lyft Inc. decreased for a second day on Wednesday, losing 7.92 percent to close at $13.25 each, as investors shunned news of earnings improvement last year.
In its latest earnings release, Lyft said it swung to a net profit of $61.7 million in the last quarter of 2024 from a $26.3 million net loss in the same quarter a year earlier. Net income for the full year 2024, however, was lower at $22.8 million, albeit a reversal of the $340.3 million net loss in 2023.
Revenues in the quarter, however, increased by 25 percent to $1.5 billion from $1.2 billion year-on-year, while revenues for the full year grew 31 percent to $5.78 billion from $4.4 billion year-on-year.
For the first quarter of the year, Lyft expects rides volume to grow mid-teens on a year-on-year basis driven by industry-leading service levels and strong rider and driver growth and engagement.
It also expects gross bookings to grow between 10 to 14 percent, or approximately $4.05 billion to $4.20 billion.
3. Zillow Group Inc. (NASDAQ:Z)
Zillow Group fell for a second consecutive day, ending Wednesday’s trading down by 9.4 percent to finish at $78.21 each as investors discounted news of better earnings performance last year and instead focused on missing analyst estimates.
Z said it was able to narrow its net loss by 29 percent to $52 million in the last quarter of the year from the $73 million registered in the same period a year ago, while net loss shrunk by 29 percent to $112 million in full-year 2024 from $158 million in 2023.
Revenues grew by 16.9 percent in the quarter to $554 million from $474 million, while increasing 15 percent to $2.2 billion from $1.9 billion for the full-year comparable period.
For 2025, Z CEO Jeremy Wacksman said that 2024 was a remarkable year for the company. “We achieved our stated goals for the year — including double-digit revenue growth—and we expect to keep up our momentum in 2025.”
“The results we reported today demonstrate how well we are executing and seizing our opportunity to transform and digitize residential real estate. With the leading brand in our category and a solid foundation for continued growth, we’re excited to serve more buyers, sellers, renters, and real estate professionals this year,” he said.
2. Vertiv Holdings Co. (NYSE:VRT)
Vertiv Holdings saw its share prices drop by 9.74 percent on Wednesday to finish at $111.24 apiece as investors sold off after the company posted lower-than-expected earnings estimates for the first quarter of the year.
Despite improved earnings performance for full year 2024, VRT said it expects earnings per share (EPS) between 57 cents and 63 cents in the first quarter of 2025. Analysts on the other hand targeted adjusted EPS of 64 cents. Meanwhile, adjusted EPS for the full year 2025 was pegged at between $3.5 and $3.6.
Last quarter, VRT also saw net income drop by 36.8 percent to $147 million from $232.6 million year-on-year. However, net income in the full year increased by 7.7 percent to $495.8 million from the $460.2 million registered in 2023.
1. OneStream Inc. (NASDAQ:OS)
OneStream nosedived by 19.91 percent on Wednesday to close at $24.17 per share following a downgraded outlook from an investment banking firm.
On Wednesday, JPMorgan downgraded its outlook for OS to “neutral” from “overweight” and cut its price target to $26 from $30 following the release of OS’ earnings results.
In a statement, JPMorgan said OS’ high gross retention rates as well as its capability to replace other specialized products in the market bodes well for the company’s business performance.
“However, in recent weeks we have published cautious data points relating to OneStream, and its Q4 results provide confirmation of deal slippage, which causes us to think the stock may remain range-bound in the $20s until some overhangs can clear up,” JPMorgan said.
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READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and Complete List of 59 AI Companies Under $2 Billion in Market Cap.
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