Stocks were mixed on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI 0.26%) falling slightly as the S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.61%) ticked higher. Neither index moved more than 0.25% for the day.
Today's stock market
|
Index |
Percentage Change |
Point Change |
|---|---|---|
|
Dow |
(0.13%) |
(27.05) |
|
S&P 500 |
0.17% |
4.13 |
Data source: Yahoo! Finance.
The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF +0.12%) beat the broader market with a 0.6% increase as bank stocks had a generally good day. A near-1% drop in gold prices, meanwhile, pushed the leveraged bullish bet on the precious metal, Direxion Daily Junior Gold Miners Bull 3X ETF (JNUG 11.70%), down almost 8%.
As for individual stocks, BroadSoft (NASDAQ: BSFT) and Ensign Group (ENSG +0.62%) made big moves following quarterly earnings reports.
Image source: Getty Images.
BroadSoft lowers its outlook
Shares of Cloud communications specialist BroadSoft fell more than 8% after the company reported solid fiscal first-quarter earnings while downgrading its operating outlook. Revenue rose 9% during the latest reporting period to $79.9 million, which was in the middle of the forecast that management issued in late February. Non-GAAP earnings also met expectations at $0.19 per share.
"We were pleased with our solid first quarter results," CEO Michael Tessler said in a press release. "We made meaningful progress against our 2017 strategic objectives during the quarter," Tessler added.
However, billings growth slowed to a 12% pace from nearly 20% in the prior quarter. And that shift likely played a role in management's lowered outlook for the year. In fact, Tessler and his team are seeing weaker demand in Broadcom's professional services and subscription and support offerings -- two segments that have been key to its growth lately. As a result, 2017 revenue is now expected to be between $380 million and $390 million compared to the prior forecast of $390 million to $400 million.
Executives left their earnings outlook unchanged and said they remain optimistic about BroadSoft's long-term opportunity. Yet Wall Street -- never happy to see a growth downgrade -- pushed the stock lower on Monday.
Ensign Group's pipeline of growth
Ensign Group, which runs a network of hospice and assisted living facilities, saw shares jump almost 7% after posting first-quarter results that showed improving operating metrics. Sales rose more than 15% to $441.7 million, edging past consensus estimates that were targeting $434 million. Adjusted earnings stopped at $17.9 million, translating into $0.34 per share, while Wall Street would have been happy with $0.33 per share.
Image source: Getty Images.
Management credited accelerating revenue gains, especially in the nursing and managed care segments, for the surprising growth. "We are very encouraged by the results our skilled nursing operators achieved during the quarter," CEO Christopher Christensen said in a press release.
The company is bullish about its near- and long-term outlook, given that it has a pipeline of 99 newly acquired and transitioning locations. While growing, these homes still have plenty of room to improve toward the company average in terms of occupancy. The transitioning nursing operations as a group are only 65.9% occupied, while the rest of the company's average stands at over 80%.
Ensign Group believes this new class will contribute to healthy earnings gains starting in the second half of this year. "With many of the challenges from 2016 behind us," Christensen said, "we expect our newly acquired operations ... to continue the momentum created during the quarter and that each will make a meaningful contribution to the bottom line in the latter half of 2017 and beyond."
