Wall Street suffered large losses on Thursday, with major benchmarks falling sharply after reports that the Trump administration would follow through on previous threats to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. That might sound like good news for American businesses, but at a time when many industrial companies are looking at potential measures to build out new infrastructure, higher costs for raw materials could pose a problematic new wrinkle in putting their capital investment to work. Moreover, market participants fear the possibility of trade wars with key trading partners that could pose new geopolitical threats as well as cause potential harm on the macroeconomic front. Bad news hit several stocks as well, and L Brands (BBWI -2.69%), Colony NorthStar (DBRG -1.87%), and Box (BOX 0.23%) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.
L Brands disappoints
Shares of L Brands dropped 14% after the parent company of Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works posted its fourth-quarter financial report. Results for the holiday quarter were better than many had expected, including a 2% rise in comparable sales that helped lift overall revenue by more than 7%. However, L Brands said that its first-quarter expectations were a bit weaker than what most investors following the stock were anticipating. Having seen shortfalls from L Brands in the past, shareholders seem to be a bit uncertain about whether the retail giant will make good on its promises to grow throughout the coming year.
Image source: L Brands.
Colony NorthStar deals with a tough year
Colony NorthStar stock fell 23% after the real estate investment trust (REIT) made its fourth-quarter financial report available. The REIT said that weakness in the healthcare sector as well as the retail broker-dealer distribution business weighed on its performance over the past year, prompting it to make a substantial dividend cut. Going forward, Colony NorthStar will distribute $0.11 per share quarterly, down from the $0.27 per share that it had been paying out previously. The move should give the REIT more capital to invest back into its business, but investors won't be happy to see Colony NorthStar's double-digit dividend yield go away.
Box gets dropped
Finally, shares of Box sank 23%. The enterprise cloud storage specialist said that its sales climbed 24% in the fourth quarter compared to the year-earlier period, with substantial gains in billings and narrowing losses. Yet investors weren't happy about the company's guidance, which included slower revenue growth ahead. Given the strength of the cloud computing arena, Box's uninspiring guidance threw cold water on bullish shareholders. With continuing losses, Box needs to find better ways to make progress in order to satisfy increasingly impatient investors.
