What: Shares of specialty chemicals maker Platform Specialty Products Corp. (ESI -0.67%) are down more than 11% at 3:15 p.m. ET Wednesday.
So what: There's no news out there, and trading activity has actually been relatively light, compared to the three-month average. Unfortunately, it just looks like the majority of Wednesday's activity was initiated by sellers.
Now what: Sometimes this is just what the market does. There's a good chance that some of the drop was precipitated by people selling simply because the stock was dropping. This is a common cause of investing losses -- trying to time the market, and jumping in and out of a stock simply because of what the market is doing, not what's happening with the business itself.
As to Platform Specialty Products, things stand essentially where they did back in mid-December, when the company announced a new CEO. Platform's business model is built largely on acquiring products and companies that make them, versus in-house research and development. Platform is a relatively young public company, and the share price has fallen sharply since being listed in the NYSE in 2014, as questions about the company's long-term strategy and its ability to make big profits abound.
Add in the uncertainty when the prior CEO announced his retirement, and the now-uncertainty around how the new CEO will perform, and the market is likely to remain skittish until the company demonstrates a track record of financial performance. So unless you're willing to take the time to understand its business model and strategy, and to ride out these unexplainable up-and-down days, this is probably a stock you're best avoiding.
