Tuesday was a good day for the overall stock market, as major market benchmarks climbed as much as half a percent during the day's trading session. Dow 20,000 still didn't happen, disappointing some post-holiday revelers, but traders appeared to be happy enough just leaving the market in its recent trading range with lackluster activity levels. Even though the market's attitude was generally positive, some stocks fell sharply, and Globalstar (GSAT -1.54%), Endologix (ELGX.Q), and Lands' End (LE -4.59%) were among the more noteworthy decliners on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.
Image source: Globalstar.
Globalstar gives back some ground
Globalstar fell 13%, retreating slightly from a huge upward run over the past week. The satellite communications company has soared by more than 75% since Dec. 16, with the climb beginning when the company received word from the Federal Communications Commission that the regulatory agency's staff had drafted a new proposed order for commissioners to consider. That was taken as a positive sign, and later in the week, it became apparent that the revised proposal would receive enough support to get FCC approval, pushing the stock still higher. The positive news was confirmed on Friday, but Globalstar said in a press release Tuesday that it would wait until after the New Year to have a conference call about the FCC decision and its impact on the company's future. That seemed to kill some of Globalstar's momentum, despite the fact that the stock has still doubled since the beginning of December even after Tuesday's drop.
Endologix faces manufacturing problems
Endologix dropped 26% in the wake of its decision to put a temporary hold on shipments of its AFX Endovascular AAA System. The company said that it is looking to complete an investigation of a manufacturing issue with some sizes of the device, and although CEO John McDermott emphasized that "the temporary hold on AFX is not related to any reported events from physicians," investors didn't seem satisfied with the fact that Endologix's top-selling product could not return to full availability for some time if the investigation doesn't yield ideal results. The problem is that AFX makes up a huge percentage of Endologix's total sales, and so even a short-term threat to its success will have immediate consequences. As long as the investigation doesn't yield results that imply ongoing concerns with AFX production, it's likely that the stock will regain at least some of its lost ground.
Lands' End sags in post-holiday trading
Finally, Lands' End declined 8%. The retailer has some investors concerned about the future course of its strategic vision, which might include what some see as out-of-date marketing techniques. In particular, Lands' End will boost its spending on its print catalog, choosing not to emphasize omni-channel efforts to capture online traffic to the same extent that some of its competitors have done. Both of the company's current co-CEOs have made the point that Lands' End's catalogs are among its most important ways to reach customers, and the retailer hopes that it can keep its current customer base while also getting former customers back. Shareholders will have to wait until Lands' End reports its holiday-quarter results in March to find out how the company did with its strategy, but for now, they don't seem convinced that the retailer is moving in the right direction.
