Thursday morning left the stock market feeling hungover, as indexes failed to make much of a move in either direction following Wednesday's plunge. As of 11:16 a.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI +0.11%) was down 30 points to 25,450. The S&P 500 (^GSPC 0.16%) fell 2 points to 2,839, and the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 0.71%) lost 26 points to 7,748.
Earnings continued to have a major impact on individual companies, and some high-profile names reported their results yesterday after market close. Cisco Systems (CSCO +0.71%) announced its latest numbers, and the networking giant's shareholders reacted poorly to some concerning news. For Canopy Growth (CGC 2.68%), meanwhile, even solid growth wasn't enough to entirely satisfy investors' high expectations.
Cisco can't connect with future growth
Shares of Cisco Systems lost 8% following its Wednesday night release of fiscal fourth-quarter financial results. The networking giant continued to see challenges in its core business, and its numbers raised concerns about future growth.
Image source: Cisco Systems.
Cisco's headline numbers were mixed. Revenue was higher by 6% year over year when you exclude the impact of the recently sold service provider video software solutions business. However, net income plunged 42% from year-ago levels, and that resulted in a 37% drop in earnings per share. Even after accounting for some one-time items, adjusted net income growth of 9% didn't live up to every investor's expectations.
Yet what seemed to disappoint most Cisco shareholders was the company's tepid guidance for the coming quarter. Fiscal first-quarter revenue could come in as weak as flat to up 2% from year-earlier levels. Adjusted earnings of $0.80 to $0.82 per share would also be less robust than most were anticipating.
Most of those following the networking space had hoped that Cisco would find ways to capitalize on new opportunities in the industry. Yet at least for now, Cisco hasn't clearly shown a path to take advantage of 5G rollouts and other key events that could drive growth for years to come.
Canopy comes off its high
Shares of Canopy Growth were down even more sharply, falling 12%. The Canadian cannabis company had investors expecting strong results in its second-quarter earnings report, but the reality was anything but, revealing some troubling issues with what many had considered the industry leader.
The most shocking news was that Canopy failed to grow its revenue between the first quarter of 2019 and Q2: Top-line figures declined 4%. Despite a big jump in recreational cannabis sales of dried products, the near evaporation of cannabis oil product revenue more than offset gains elsewhere.
Canopy also saw other headwinds. A shift away from high-margin products hurt the marijuana specialist's bottom line, which featured massive losses of almost 1.3 billion Canadian dollars. Also hitting the company was an adjustment related to warrants that Canopy has outstanding.
Yet Canopy has work to do to regain investors' trust. With a big acquisition pending, the company needs to show it can execute on opportunities and turn them into long-term growth. Otherwise, Canopy Growth could find itself falling from the ranks of top marijuana stocks in the market.
