Why Pure Storage, Davita, Ensco and 2 Other Stocks are Falling Hard Today

The markets are poised to end an otherwise bullish week in the red today, as traders ruminate over the possible timing of a rate hike from the Federal Reserve, after failing to find a clue in the latest minutes from the central bank’s July meeting. San Francisco Fed President John Williams, however, was frank on Thursday, when he said he’d like to see the bank increase the rates “sooner rather than later.”

Among the stocks that are dipping big time today are Pure Storage Inc (NYSE:PSTG), DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA), AK Steel Holding Corporation (NYSE:AKS), ENSCO PLC (NYSE:ESV), and First Majestic Silver Corp (NYSE:AG). Let’s find out why these stocks are losing value today and see how the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey are positioned in them.

Our research, which determined that following the small-cap stocks that hedge funds are collectively bullish on can help a smaller investor beat the S&P 500 by around 95 basis points per month (see more details here).

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Pure Storage Downgraded By OTR Global

Pure Storage Inc (NYSE:PSTG) has lost over 16% of its value today after the California-based data storage company was downgraded to ‘Negative’ from ‘Mixed’ by OTR Global. OTR Global cited pricing pressure and weaker than expected pipelines for the third quarter in its survey results as the reasons for the downgrade. Pure Storage Inc (NYSE:PSTG) will announce its second quarter results on August 25, with analysts expecting the company to report a loss of $0.23 per share and $155.14 million in revenue. Pure Storage shares are now down by 30% since the company’s IPO last October.

DaVita HealthCare Sliding After Obamacare Probe

DaVita HealthCare Partners Inc (NYSE:DVA)’s stock has lost over 5% so far today. The Denver-based dialysis services company is one of several such companies feeling the pain today after an investigation was launched by Federal officials concerning the rising number of dialysis claims made through Affordable Care Act plans during the second quarter, as some service providers are thought to be steering patients into Obamacare plans so as to collect higher fees. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced that changes could be forthcoming to enrollment provisions and that penalties could also be enacted for dialysis firms caught abusing the system. Earlier this month, the company reported second quarter EPS of $1.01, surpassing the estimates of $0.98, while revenue of $3.72 billion was also better than the expected $3.67 billion. The stock is down by approximately 8% year-to-date. As of the end of the second quarter, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway owns around 38.56 million shares of the company.

We continue our discussion of today’s falling stocks on the next page.