Thursday was a generally down day for the stock market, but none of the major benchmarks made particularly large moves in either direction. The Dow Jones Industrials generally outperformed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite, with weakness in key technology stocks playing an important role in holding the tech-heavy Nasdaq down. Absent market-moving, big-picture news, most investors kept their focus on individual stocks. Bad news hit several companies hard, and 3D Systems (DDD 5.35%), Windstream Holdings (WIN +0.00%), and AmerisourceBergen (ABC 3.23%) 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.
3D Systems falls flat
Shares of 3D Systems plunged 21% after the maker of 3D printing hardware reported its second-quarter financial results. The company eked out a slight revenue gain of just 1%, but both that figure and adjusted earnings fell short of what investors had wanted to see. In addition, 3D Systems cut its guidance for the full 2017 year, including reductions of 2 percentage points from the top end of its expected revenue growth range and expectations for no growth from 2016 earnings levels. The revolution in 3D printing has been slower in coming than most investors had expected, and 3D Systems in particular hasn't been as big of a beneficiary of interest in the field as once seemed likely. Until the company can demonstrate its ability to lead the industry, 3D Systems will have a hard time returning to its glory days.
Image source: 3D Systems.
Windstream cuts its dividend
Windstream Holdings stock took a huge hit, plummeting 36% in the wake of the company's decision to eliminate its dividend. Windstream had been well-known for its double-digit percentage dividend yield, but many of those following the telecom company had been convinced that the payout was unsustainable in the long run. As was long feared, Windstream finally chose to eliminate its dividend payout entirely. Shareholders weren't impressed with the other part of the company's capital allocation strategy, in which Windstream said it would authorize spending $90 million on stock buybacks through early 2019. Paying down debt is a necessary step, but it's one that Windstream investors had nevertheless hoped the company could accomplish without touching the lucrative dividend.
AmerisourceBergen deals with drug wholesale weakness
Finally, shares of AmerisourceBergen fell 10.5%. On the plus side, the drug wholesale distributor said that sales were up 5% in its fiscal third-quarter financial report, with a similar 4% rise in adjusted earnings per share. Amerisource also boosted its earnings guidance for the full fiscal year, guiding toward the upper end of its previous range. Yet the company cut its revenue growth estimates from a range of 5.5% to 6.5% to a new target of 5%, and even those expectations are contingent on being able to enjoy brand drug price inflation of 7% to 9%. Anything short of that could weigh on results even further, and given controversy in Washington over drug prices, anything is possible for AmerisourceBergen in the near future.
