Why These 5 Stocks Are Taking One on the Chin Today

The markets are off to a weak start this morning amid disappointing earnings reports from tech giants and uncertainty around oil. Among the important stocks which are trading in the red today are Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX), American Airlines Group Inc (NASDAQ:AAL), United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL), Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB), and Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE:BGG). This article will discuss the reasons behind the declines in these stocks along with analyzing hedge fund sentiment towards each of them.

Starbucks Corporation Misses Estimates

Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX)’s stock has declined by more than 4% this morning after the company reported second quarter earnings after the closing bell yesterday. The coffee chain reported $0.39 per share in earnings on $4.99 billion in revenue, missing the consensus revenue estimate of $5.03 billion. Sales at shops open at least a year grew by 6%, missing the 6.7% growth estimate. The company recently changed its famous loyalty program, which is said to have dented its customer base. The program now rewards customers based on total money spent instead of number of purchases.

Out of nearly 800 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 61 funds held long positions in Starbucks Corporation (NASDAQ:SBUX) with a total value of approximately $1.80 billion at the end of 2015. David Keidan’s Buckingham Capital Management was one of the major stakeholders of the company as of March 31, with 187,068  shares.

American Airlines Reports Decline in Revenue

American Airlines Group Inc(NASDAQ:AAL)’s stock has plummeted by more than 6% after the company reported its first quarter earnings. The airline posted a profit of $1.25 per share, down from $1.73 per share in the first quarter of last year. The airline said that it continued to profit from the declining fuel prices, as its fuel costs plunged by 33% in the quarter. However, revenue declined by 4% to $9.33 billion, which included a 7.3% revenue decline in the Americas, which impacted the bottom-line results.

Our database of hedge funds shows that 76 hedge funds in our system held long positions in American Airlines Group Inc(NASDAQ:AAL) at the end of the fourth quarter, with a total value of approximately $2.00 billion.

We check out the latest quarterly results at another airline, as well as at two other companies on the next page.

United Continental Still Falling from Earnings

United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL)’s stock has lost more than 4% this morning after getting battered yesterday to the tune of about 10%. The airline reported EPS of $1.23 on Wednesday, down from $1.52 a year earlier. The company’s revenue in the first quarter was $8.19 billion, which slightly missed estimates. United Continental announced that it will slow down its growth due to flight capacity surpassing passenger demand, resulting in a decline in prices. United expects passenger revenue per available seat mile to fall by 6.5%-to-8.5% during the second quarter. Also on Wednesday, the company announced that it has agreed to appoint representatives from two of its shareholders, Paul Reeder and Edward Shapiro‘s PAR Capital Management and Brad Gerstner‘s Altimeter Capital Management, to its board. 73 hedge funds in our database held positions in United Continental Holdings Inc (NYSE:UAL) at the end of 2015.

Declining Sales for Kimberly Clark Corp

Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB)’s stock is down by more than 4.5% after the company announced its first quarter earnings. The consumer products company reported net income of $545 million, or $1.50 per share, up from $468 million, or $1.27 per share in the first quarter of 2015. Sales declined to $4.5 billion from $4.7 billion a year earlier, but beat the consensus estimates nonetheless. For the full year, the company is planning to stick to its sales growth expectations of 3%-to-5%.

Out of the hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 26 firms held stakes in Kimberly Clark Corp (NYSE:KMB) at the end of the fourth quarter with a total value of approximately $1.1 billion.

Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE:BGG) Misses Estimates

Shares of Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE:BGG) have lost more than 6% on Friday after the company announced its earnings for the third quarter of fiscal year 2016 ended March 27. The engine company reported revenue of $603.75 million, sharply missing the consensus estimate of $642.22 million. The company also missed on the income front, reporting $0.80 in EPS, whereas analysts were expecting somewhere around $0.89. Briggs & Stratton Corporation updated its earnings guidance for the full 2016 fiscal year to EPS of $1.25-to-$1.41 and revenue of $1.85 billion-to-$1.92 billion.

16 out of the nearly 800 hedge funds in our system held positions in Briggs & Stratton Corporation (NYSE:BGG) on December 31. Mariko Gordon’s Daruma Asset Management owned just over 3.00 million shares of the company on that date.

Disclosure: None