Wednesday gave investors a sigh of relief, but it was far from the sharp rebound from big losses earlier in the week that many had wanted to see. Major benchmarks soared at the beginning of the trading session based on strong earnings performances from key industry players and a lack of any big surprises in the State of the Union speech Tuesday night. Yet by the end of the day, the indexes had given up most of their gains. Some individual stocks actually posted significant losses, and Eastman Kodak (KODK -3.93%), Juniper Networks (JNPR -1.16%), and Harley-Davidson (HOG -15.74%) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.
Is Kodak still going crypto?
Shares of Eastman Kodak dropped 13% after the company known primarily for its photographic equipment and film said that it would take a considerable amount of time to complete the expected launch of its KodakCoin cryptocurrency. Kodak stock had soared on the initial announcement of its initial coin offering, but since then, greater regulatory scrutiny of such offerings has led those seeking to issue new cryptocurrencies to take greater care in the planning stage. Kodak now has to verify the accredited investor status of those who signed up for the offering, which could take several weeks. Some wondered whether Kodak would go forward at all with its cryptocurrency plans, but given the positive investor reaction to the move, the company doesn't have much choice but to keep pushing ahead.
Image source: Eastman Kodak.
Juniper goes down
Juniper Networks stock dropped nearly 8% in the wake of the company's release of fourth-quarter financial results. The networking specialist said that sales were down 11% from the year-ago period, with a $290 million hit to net income coming from the tax reform law and adjusted profit falling by more than 20%. Juniper also said that it expects the first quarter of 2018 to be fairly weak, with its outlook reflecting "ongoing deployment delays as Juniper expects its large cloud customers to continue their architectural transition, which is expected to result in below-normal seasonality." Investors have had doubts about Juniper for some time, and today's results only added to the series of troubling reports from the networking company.
Harley tumbles once more
Finally, shares of Harley-Davidson fell 5%, extending losses from Tuesday's session. The iconic company reported quarterly results yesterday morning that showed weak demand for its core motorcycles, and Harley is also dealing with competitive pressures that have rival brands taking away some of its market share. What's more, Harley expects to deliver fewer motorcycles in 2018 than it did in 2017, extending a streak of falling shipments that bodes ill for the long-term growth of the industry. Without efforts to spur interest among younger customers, Harley-Davidson isn't giving its shareholders the confidence in its future that they want to see.
