5 of Last Week's Biggest Losers

There's never a shortage of stocks going the wrong way in any given chunk of time. No stock goes straight up, and sometimes fundamentals can get a bit wobbly. Let's take a closer look at five of this past week's biggest sinkers.

Source: Barron's.

Let's start with Elizabeth Arden. The struggling cosmetics distributor smeared investors after announcing a restructuring that scared off a potential suitor. South Korea's LG Household reversed on its earlier intentions to explore a buyout, seemingly spooked by Elizabeth Arden's move to bow out of poorly performing businesses. 

NQ Mobile also slipped on the week. The Chinese provider of mobile Internet services slumped after a negative Seeking Alpha article. NQ Mobile hasn't been the same since noted worrywart Muddy Waters called out its shoddy accounting several months ago, and the company hasn't done itself any favors by now going on two months without filing an audited annual report. 

Steelcase didn't get the job done. The office-furniture specialist posted disappointing financial results for its latest quarter. Revenue inched higher, but Steelcase's adjusted earnings of $0.08 a share were well short of the $0.12 the pros were targeting. Steelcase's guidance for the new quarter is also short of where analysts are perched.

Intercept Pharmaceuticals was intercepted by bears after revealing a delay in results from an important study with its leading candidate. Intercept is an upstart biotech trying to get its obeticholic acid to market for the treatment of primary biliary liver cirrhosis and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, or NASH. The cirrhosis study is in the final stage of clinical trials, but the NASH application presents a larger opportunity even if it's a phase behind. 

Intercept was initially hoping to have FLINT phase 2 study results for its treatment of NASH available in July, but now it told investors at a conference presentation that the findings won't be ready by next month. There is no reason to believe that the delay will be long or that it's a sign that something's going wrong with the obeticholic acid. However, the market doesn't like delays or uncertainties.

Finally we have AmSurg calling in sick. The operator of ambulatory surgery centers flatlined after announcing and ultimately pricing a secondary offering. AmSurg priced 8.5 million shares at $45, a steep discount to where the stock was when the week began. It also sold 1.5 million shares of convertible preferred stock.