Image source: Denbury Resources.
Wednesday was a quiet day for the stock market, and major market benchmarks finished the day by pushing slightly further into record territory. After performing so strongly during the first two days of the week, many investors seemed ready to take a bit of a break, and the fact that the market managed to post even very minor gains pointed to the generally positive mood on Wall Street. Yet even though the market held up well, some stocks still lost substantial ground. Lagging behind were Michaels Companies (MIK +0.00%), AAR Corp. (AIR +1.41%), and Denbury Resources (DNR +0.00%).
Michaels raises some cash, cuts guidance
Michaels Companies dropped 6% after some of the retailer's major investors took the opportunity of a nice rebound in its share price to raise capital. Michaels said that selling shareholders intended to sell 11 million shares of stock, potentially raising more than $300 million based on the closing price of the stock yesterday. Michaels itself won't receive any proceeds from the sales by its investors, and in fact, the company has agreed to buy 1 million shares from the offering. However, in conjunction with the offering, Michaels said that its second-quarter earnings would likely be in the lower to middle part of the range it had expected. That threw cold water on the stock, although it likely won't stop selling shareholders from going forward with the offering, and cashing out on what has been a good performer in recent months.
AAR makes a buy
AAR fell 9% after reporting weaker-than-expected earnings and announcing an acquisition. The aviation services specialist said that sales rose 10% from year-ago levels, and it reversed a year-earlier loss by posting income from continuing operations of $11.2 million, or $0.32 per share. The aviation services segment was especially strong, rising 11%, but some investors weren't satisfied with the results. AAR also said it had bought the SpaceMax product line of mobile shelter systems, bolstering AAR's mobility systems division and its broader offerings of encampment solutions. Customers can put together the SpaceMax products in as little as five minutes, making it easier to deploy quickly, and helping to save energy through proprietary climate-control technology. With temporary housing units, kitchens, water purification units, showers, and laundry units, AAR is working hard to meet all the needs of its commercial, military, and humanitarian customers and to reverse some of its sluggish past results.
Denbury Resources follows oil down
Finally, Denbury Resources fell 9%. The independent oil and natural gas producer traded in line with the energy market on Wednesday, and a nearly $2-per-barrel drop took crude oil prices back down below the $45-per-barrel level. Denbury's fundamentals have actually held up reasonably well during the oil crash, and the company managed to post only a modest adjusted loss in the first quarter of 2016, after adjusting for a writedown of its oil and gas assets of more than a quarter-billion dollars. Denbury's cost-cutting measures have also helped the company, and investors hope that the oil and gas company will be able to profit from future price increases, while hopefully picking up some opportunities from weaker peers in the energy sector.
