Entrepreneur Index™ Down as Big Banks Miss Their Revenue Targets Bed Bath & Beyond down sharply again.
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Banks and financial companies continue to report earnings this week, with mixed results leading to moderate losses in the major stock indexes.
Goldman Sachs and Citigroup reported results this morning. Both beat low earnings estimates but both also missed revenue targets. Their stocks were down 3.82 percent and 0.06 percent respectively, contributing to a 0.1 percent decline in the Dow index today. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes also had small losses. The Entrepreneur Index™ closed the day 0.13 percent lower with retailer Bed Bath & Beyond once again posting the biggest decline on the index.
Shares in Bed Bath and Beyond were down 6.17 percent today. They fell nearly nine percent last Thursday after the retailer reported financial results. Earnings were slightly better than expected, but quarterly revenues were down more than ten percent. Management, however, raised guidance for 2019.
BBBY stock, still up 49.1 percent this year, has been one of the best performers on the Entrepreneur Index™ in 2019. The reason appears to be investors' conviction that things can't get much worse for the company. A group of activist investors are fighting to replace the BBBY board and CEO Steven Temares, but it can't happen soon enough for shareholders. The stock is down more than 13 percent since the company reported earnings last week.
Several other retailers on the index posted solid gains today. Discount retailer Dollar Tree Inc. was up 2.26 percent and Costco Wholesale Group gained 1.81 percent. Walmart was also up 0.86 percent and Gap Inc. posted a gain of 1.47 percent.
Other gains on the index included Intercontinental Exchange (1.76 percent), Comcast (1.16 percent) and Cerner Corp. (1.05 percent).
The technology sector was generally weak. Chip-maker NVIDIA Corp., one of the more economically sensitive tech stocks, had the biggest decline in the sector, falling 2.79 percent. Netflix was also down 0.65 percent. It fell 4.5 percent last Friday after Walt Disney Company disclosed details of the streaming service it plans to launch in November. Netflix is the first of the FAANG stocks to report earnings after the market close tomorrow.
Sentiment has definitely soured on Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. The stock was down 1.94 percent today and since setting a 52-week high in early March, it is down 15 percent. Its return for the year is now just 0.48 percent.
L Brands was also down sharply, falling 2.32 percent. The owner of struggling lingerie brand Victoria's Secret has plummeted in the last few years. Briefly trading above $100/share in late 2015, the stock now trades at $25 and it is in the red for the year to date, down 1.64 percent.
Other notable declines on the Entrepreneur Index™ today included REIT Kimco Realty Corp. (-1.92 percent), asset manager Franklin Resources (-1.55 percent) and Ford Motor Co. (-1.27 percent).
The Entrepreneur Index™ collects the top 60 publicly traded companies founded and run by entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial spirit is a valuable asset for any business, and this index recognizes its importance, no matter how much a company has grown. These inspirational businesses can be tracked in real time on Entrepreneur.com.
