Wednesday was largely a positive day on Wall Street, and the Dow Jones Industrials led major benchmarks higher on the strength of earnings results from two key components. Investors were unfazed by the Federal Reserve's announcement that it intends to make good on its promise to start reducing the size of its balance sheet for the first time since implementing quantitative easing measures during the financial crisis. Instead, market participants were pleased that the central bank kept interest rates stable for now, and they were largely happy with the way that earnings season has gone so far.
However, a few stocks haven't been able to follow the major benchmarks higher, and Akamai Technologies (AKAM 0.28%), Corning (GLW -0.44%), and Wynn Resorts (WYNN -2.42%) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we'll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.
Akamai leaves investors wanting more
Shares of Akamai Technologies dropped almost 15% despite the company reporting good financial results in its second-quarter report. The cloud delivery platform specialist said that revenue rose 6% from the year-ago period, driven by larger gains in the web division and enterprise and carrier business. The company's international business posted most of the company's growth, and Akamai pointed to big gains in cloud security solutions as a key component of its overall gains. Yet investors weren't entirely comfortable with Akamai's projections for sluggish revenue growth in the current third quarter, and they also looked at relatively poor performance from Akamai's media delivery business as a reason for concern. If Akamai can successfully adapt to changing conditions and find avenues for growth, then today's share-price losses should prove to be temporary.
Image source: Akamai Technologies.
Corning falls despite a good quarter
Corning stock fell 5% after the company reported second-quarter financial results. As with Akamai, the specialty glass and materials manufacturer's report seemed to warrant a more bullish tone, as it largely surpassed the consensus views among investors with a 6% rise in sales and better earnings than expected. Corning's specialty materials and optical communications segments posted the best growth rates in revenue and core earnings, and even though price declines weighed on the display technologies business, the pace of those declines slowed, and volume rose as expected. CEO Wendell Weeks noted that a number of key collaborative announcements recently are "votes of confidence [that] underscore how vital Corning's capabilities are to our customers' ecosystems, which bodes well for our future growth." Yet with Corning stock already having climbed sharply in 2017 to hit a decade high, investors apparently chose not to bid up shares despite the good news.
Wynn deals shareholders a losing hand
Finally, shares of Wynn Resorts ended down 5%. The casino giant reported a 44% jump in net revenue from the year-ago period, with the newly opened Wynn Palace resort on Macau's Cotai Strip contributing the lion's share of the boost to sales. Adjusted net income climbed at a slower and slightly disappointing pace of 11%, although Wynn did say that bottom-line gains came both from Wynn Palace as well as its legacy properties in Macau and Las Vegas. Investors seemed to conclude, however, that Wynn hadn't sufficiently taken advantage of the rebound in Macau, where industrywide trends have finally turned sharply higher after a three-year downturn that lasted into 2016. With further expansion plans on the books, Wynn Resorts can expect to see a lot of action in the years to come.
