Friday once again showed the resiliency of the stock market, with the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite all finishing with modest gains that were sufficient to bring the market benchmarks to new record highs. Positive sentiment about the prospects for the U.S. economy continued to guide the market’s movements and prevent any substantial drop in stocks, and generally favorable earnings across the business continuum were also supportive. Yet some stocks missed out, and Yamana Gold (NYSE: AUY), Nu Skin Enterprises (NYSE: NUS), and DineEquity (NYSE: DIN) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we’ll look more closely at these stocks to tell you why they did so poorly.
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Yamana tarnishes
Shares of Yamana Gold dropped 10% after the company released its fourth-quarter financial report. Friday was a relatively quiet day for the precious metals markets, with gold falling just $3 to $1,235 per ounce and silver sagging by $0.09 to just under $18 per ounce. Yet the mining company’s results included only minimal gains in gold production for the full 2016 year from 2015 levels, along with substantial declines in silver and copper production. Although fourth-quarter adjusted earnings came in at $0.05 per share, reversing a year-ago loss, what concerned investors the most was Yamana’s assertion that the company is "currently in an organic growth phase" and will therefore concentrate on developing its existing mining assets rather than making new strategic acquisitions on the open market. With other players in the industry seeking to capitalize on asset purchases and the company’s production showing signs of challenges ahead, some fear Yamana could get left behind.
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Nu Skin looks a little uglier
Nu Skin Enterprises dropped 13% in the wake of its fourth-quarter financial report. The beauty products company said that its revenue fell 7% during the quarter, leading to a slight full-year top-line decline for Nu Skin, and it repeated its previous guidance for 2017 growth projections of roughly 20% to 30% earnings growth on a 2% to 5% rise in revenue. The company attributed the declines to the fact that Nu Skin benefited from product launches in the year-earlier period, and Nu Skin also pointed to continuing currency pressure that affected its results. Yet investors didn’t seem satisfied with the Nu Skin’s outlook going forward, and lingering concerns about its business model could have some thinking twice about the company.
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DineEquity shareholders lose their appetite
Finally, shares of DineEquity fell 9%. The restaurant operator said that CEO Julia Stewart would resign from the company effective March 1, ending a 16-year tenure with the company. Richard Dahl will serve as interim CEO, and DineEquity will look for a replacement through a search to follow. In addition, DineEquity also released its preliminary fourth-quarter financial results, which included fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of $1.37 per share. Comparable-restaurant sales declines were sharp, however, with IHOP locations seeing a decline of 2.1% during the quarter and Applebee’s posting a bigger 7.2% decline. With the restaurant industry having seen extensive pressure lately, the news of a CEO departure didn’t give investors much comfort about DineEquity’s future.
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