Tech Firms Dominate Monday’s 10 Worst Performers

Wall Street’s main indices kicked off the trading week in the green territory, albeit with minimal gains, as investors stayed on the sidelines while continuing to digest President Donald Trump’s temporary tax reprieve on technology companies.

The S&P 500 recorded the highest gain, up 0.79 percent, while the Dow Jones came second at 0.78 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq was also up by 0.64 percent.

Meanwhile, 10 companies, predominantly in the technology sector, bucked a broader market optimism, booking modest declines during the session. In this article, let us explore Monday’s 10 worst performers and the reasons behind their gains.

To come up with the list, we only considered the stocks with $2 billion market capitalization and $5 million trading volume.

Stock market reports printed on a sheet of paper. Photo by RDNE Stock Project on Pexels

10. C3.ai Inc. (NYSE:AI)

C3.ai saw its share prices drop by 2.57 percent on Monday to close at $20.06 apiece as investors sold off positions after an investment firm reduced its price target for the company by 28 percent.

On Monday, DA Davidson cut its price target for C3.ai to $18 from $25 previously. The new price target was a low blow for the company, having been slashed to a price lower than its Monday closing figure.

According to DA Davidson, the downgrade was part of a broader reassessment of the software industry and reflected expected economic challenges.

The analyst underscored that the US may experience one or two quarters of negative GDP growth that is likely to impact both consumer spending and corporate investment.

C3.ai is an enterprise artificial intelligence software applications company providing more than 130 turnkey AI applications for businesses in manufacturing, financial services, government, utilities, oil and gas, chemicals, agribusiness, defense, and intelligence, among others.

9. Aurora Innovation Inc. (NASDAQ:AUR)

Aurora Innovation dropped for a third straight day on Monday, shedding 2.58 percent to finish at $6.03 apiece as investors repositioned portfolios ahead of the expected launch of its driverless trucks in Texas this month.

Further dampening the sentiment was an investment firm’s rating downgrade for the company last week.

On Thursday, Goldman Sachs gave AUR a price target of $6, which was 0.5 percent lower than the latter’s closing price on Monday.

Goldman Sachs also assigned a Neutral rating for the stock, albeit a slight improvement from the Sell rating previously.

According to the investment firm, the new rating reflected a shift in market focus from the ramp-up and economics of AV trucking to the feasibility of the technology itself, which it believed was achievable.

Meanwhile, AUR recently received an “outperform” rating and a price target of $15 from Oppenheimer. The rating was based on AUR’s methodical and sustainable progress in the industry which it will face limited competition, further supported by its expected launch of driverless trucks this year.