Wall Street saw mixed performance in the stock market on Tuesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average setting a record high even as other indexes gave up ground. Weak performances from the small-cap Russell 2000 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite reflected concerns about whether rallies in those areas of the market have become overextended, but investors in the larger global companies in the Dow like the more favorable trade environment that's emerged in recent days. Even so, some individual stocks suffered setbacks. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 0.87%), Roku (ROKU 2.11%), and Guess? (GES +0.00%) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.
AMD keeps fighting
Shares of Advanced Micro Devices lost nearly 8% as investors kept trying to figure out whether the semiconductor chip manufacturer is in a better position to compete against its key rivals than in the past. AMD has been volatile, and on good days, shareholders had high confidence that the chipmaker was demonstrating competitive advantages in vital niches like servers and graphics processing units. Yet the bigger companies against which AMD is competing have plenty of resources to fight back, and so the eventual outcome of whether AMD can emerge victorious -- or even just with a stronger competitive position than it's enjoyed previously -- remains in doubt.
Image source: AMD.
Roku takes a break
Roku stock fell 6%, finally taking a pause after having seen gains of more than 25% in just the past month. The provider of streaming-video hardware has defied skeptics by moving sharply higher since its initial public offering just a year ago, and sales growth at Roku has accelerated over that period. Users like the fact that Roku is designed specifically for television, with relatively simple requirements for TV manufacturers to make their sets compatible with the company's devices. They also like that Roku isn't tied to any one provider of video content, letting them avoid committing to video ecosystems when they buy a television. Even with today's modest decline, Roku's fundamentals still look strong.
Could Guess? have peaked?
Finally, shares of Guess? dropped almost 7%. The maker of jeans and other apparel fell to its lowest level since June despite announcing that it had opened its 50th retail location in the Mexican market. The new location is in the Paseo Queretaro mall in Santiago de Queretaro, northwest of Mexico City, and CEO Victor Herrero noted the importance of the Guess? brand for Mexican shoppers. The fashion company has still seen strong gains since the beginning of the year, but investors want to see clearer signs of growth before rewarding the stock with a higher price.
