Here Is Why These Five Stocks Are Among Today’s Biggest Losers

With earnings season in full swing, US stocks have dipped into the red territory this morning, as oil prices have extended recent losses, hitting a three-month low. With investors waiting for the earnings reports of online giants Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL), let’s have a look at some of the stocks that have found themselves under pressure this morning and the reasons behind their sell-offs.

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Lower Guidance from Potash

Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) is down today, after the world’s biggest fertilizer company presented mixed second-quarter results. The company posted adjusted earnings of $0.18 per share, which were in line with analysts’ expectations, on the back of $935 million in revenue, versus a consensus among analysts of $1.14 billion. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) has also lowered its full-year profit forecast to $0.40 to $0.55 per share from the previous projection of $0.60 to $0.80 per share and has said it plans to cut its dividend by 60% as potash prices remain weak. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan (USA) (NYSE:POT) is not a very popular stock among the funds followed by Insider Monkey, with only 23 of them having reported a stake as of the end of the first quarter.

Troubles Ahead For Anavex Life Sciences

It’s all red for Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL) as well, continuing yesterday’s massive drop. The company presented an update on the testing of one of its leading candidates Anavex 2-73, designed for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Although it all appeared to go as planned according to Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL)’s statement, a closer look at the results showed that patients exhibit signs of memory loss and cognitive decline. Last autumn, after five weeks of treatment, patients showed improvement in five of six cognitive tests; this round, however, only three tests showed improvement. At the end of March, only five funds in our database reported a long position in Anavex Life Sciences Corp. (NASDAQ:AVXL), up from 2 registered three months earlier.

Turn the page to read about other three of today’s top decliners.

Rent-A-Center Under Pressure

Shares of Rent-A-Center Inc (NASDAQ:RCII) have plunged by more than 17%, after the company’s second quarter results missed Wall Street’s expectations. The company reported a profit of $9.9 million or $0.41 per share when adjusted for non-recurring costs, missing analysts’ consensus of $0.50 per share. Revenue came in at $749.6 million and also fell short of analysts’ expectations of $786.2 million. So far this year, the stock has been trending sideways and is currently down by roughly 25% since January. Hedge fund interest in Rent-A-Center Inc (NASDAQ:RCII) took a tumble during the first three months of 2016, as the number of long positions dropped to 21 or 2.7% of the funds we follow.

Negative Outlook at Blucora

Blucora Inc (NASDAQ:BCOR) is down by more than 20%, despite posting a 99% increase in operating income for the second quarter. The company reported a 7% increase in revenue to $120.1 million and earnings of $0.55 per share. Analysts, on the other hand, were looking for earnings of $0.52 per share on the back of $123 million in revenue. For the current quarter, Blucora Inc (NASDAQ:BCOR) has estimated a loss between $0.30 and $0.36 per share and revenue of $77 million to $81 million. At the end of March, roughly 17% of Blucora Inc (NASDAQ:BCOR)’s common stock was held by 14 investors from our database, unchanged over the quarter.

Infinera Registers Weak Demand

Warnings about softening demand in the third quarter have pushed Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ:INFN) shares down by more than 33% so far today. CEO Tim Fallon said there are “concerning signs of slowing demand in the primary markets [Infinera] serves.” The company reported second-quarter results yesterday after the closing bell, topping analysts’ estimates. Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ:INFN) registered adjusted earnings of $0.22 per share and revenue of $258.8 million, surpassing forecasts of $256 million in revenue and earnings of $0.18 per share. Following the report, analysts at JPMorgan cut their rating to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Overweight’ and reduced their price target to $8.50 per share from the previous target of $19 per share. Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ:INFN) lost some of its appeal in the eyes of funds tracked by our team, as the number of long bets decreased to 25 at the end of March, from 29 registered at the end of December.

Disclosure: none.