Stocks rose slightly on Monday, with both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.47%) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC -0.57%) indexes finishing higher by about 0.1%.
Today's stock market
|
Index |
Percentage Change |
Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow |
0.08% |
15.68 |
|
S&P 500 |
0.10% |
2.39 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
Gold-price volatility burned investors who were holding either of the two most popular bullish bets on the precious metal. The Direxion Daily Jr Gld Mnrs Bull 3X ETF (JNUG 2.97%) and Direxion Daily Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (NUGT 2.42%), which both use a leveraged structure to amplify gains and losses, lost 29% and 16% on the day, respectively.
Image source: Getty Images.
As for individual stocks, Shutterstock (SSTK 0.83%) and Sotheby's (BID) both made large moves following the companies' quarterly earnings announcements.
Shutterstock's growth slows
Shutterstock shares slumped 17% after the company posted underwhelming fourth-quarter results. Revenue rose 12% to $130 million, which left the company below the low end of the guidance range that management issued in early November.
At that time, CEO Jon Oringer and his team forecast full-year revenue of $495 million to $510 million, equating to growth of 17% to 20%. However, falling average prices for paid image downloads put the actual result at $495 million, or 16%. Still, Shutterstock posted a solid boost in profits as net income rose to $9.8 million from $6.9 million in the year-ago period. "We made a tremendous amount of progress in 2016," Oringer said in a press release while citing improvements to its photo-sharing marketplace and the expansion into complementary offerings like video and music.
Executives are bullish about the long-term outlook for the business as they work to expand its addressable market and turn the service into a more robust content platform. However, the gains won't supercharge results anytime soon. Shutterstock projected sales growth of just 12% at the midpoint of guidance for 2017, which was below consensus estimates and would represent a significant slowdown from last year's 16% jump.
Sotheby's sales stabilize
Sotheby's shares spiked 16% to a new 52-week high after its quarterly results hinted at a stabilization in the art auction business that might generate solid profit growth for shareholders in the coming quarters. Rather than plunge 17% to $277.3 million as expected, revenue fell by a more modest 8% to $308.7 million. The auction specialist produced $65.5 million of earnings compared to an $11.2 million loss last year thanks to help from rising profitability. After accounting for unusual items like a non-cash income tax charge, adjusted earnings fell 8% for the quarter.
Image source: Sotheby's.
"Our fourth quarter 2016 results came in better than expected largely due to a number of strong fourth quarter sales," CEO Tad Smith said in a press release. "These results reflect growing confidence in the market as collectors responded enthusiastically to the great collections and works we secured for sales," Smith continued.
Sotheby's quarterly results can swing wildly depending on the performance of just a few auction sales. That's why investors should watch for continued improvements in auction trends over the next few quarters before feeling confident that the art market has stabilized -- let alone returned to healthy growth.
