Friday saw another good session on Wall Street, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished higher by triple digits and other major benchmarks had equally good showings on a percentage basis. Investors initially seemed reluctant to commit more investment capital to the markets in advance of the weekend's G-20 summit in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires, but positive comments from Chinese officials suggested that the likelihood of progress in resolving trade disputes between the U.S. and China might be higher than previously believed. Nevertheless, some stocks weren't able to participate in the rally. Callaway Golf (MODG 0.06%), Vivint Solar (VSLR), and Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM 0.15%) were among the worst performers on the day. Here's why they did so poorly.
Callaway ends up in the rough
Callaway Golf saw its stock fall 9.5%. The golf retail specialist decided to make a strategic acquisition, picking up Jack Wolfskin for 418 million euros, or roughly $476 million. Wolfskin is a German manufacturer of active wear and outdoor apparel, and Callaway sees the purchase as a further push toward broadening its product lines beyond golf-specific offerings. However, many investors weren't happy with the price that Callaway was willing to pay, and the resulting dilution in earnings could hurt results for the key holiday shopping season.
Image source: Callaway Golf.
Vivint deals with an investor departure
Vivint Solar's stock closed down 22% after the solar company announced a secondary stock offering on behalf of its primary shareholder. The investor, which is a unit of Blackstone Group (BX), accepted a huge discount to Thursday's closing price in order to move the large block of 8 million shares, which represents less than 7% of Vivint's outstanding shares but more than 20% of those shares actually available to the public. Blackstone still has a substantial stake in Vivint, but shareholders believe that the move could be the beginning of a longer process that could result in the institutional investor's complete divestiture of its position in the solar company.
Sprouts wilts
Finally, shares of Sprouts Farmers Market plunged 15% in the wake of the departure of the natural foods grocer's chief executive officer. CEO Amin Maredia said in an announcement that he would leave Sprouts at the end of the year, using the typical explanation of wanting to "pursue other interests." Sprouts will look to replace the CEO on a permanent basis, and COO Jim Nielsen and CFO Brad Lukow will act as co-CEOs in the interim. Even though Sprouts has had solid fundamental business performance and there are good reasons why Maredia might want to make a career change, shareholders seem nervous that the decision could be a harbinger of bad news ahead.
