TripAdvisor's Stock Has Almost Doubled This Year Meanwhile, things keep getting worse for Wynn Resorts in the Entrepreneur Index™.
By Andrew Osterland •
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Things keep getting better for investors in TripAdvisor Inc. and worse for those in Wynn Resorts.
TripAdvisor posted the biggest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™ today, jumping 15.26 percent, bringing its performance for the year to 94 percent. Wynn Resorts, on the other hand fell 13.13 percent -- the biggest drop on the index. It has declined 41 percent this year. Both companies reported third quarter financial results before the market opened.
In TripAdvisor's case, the online travel website handily beat earnings estimates but missed on revenue targets. While the market has previously punished companies this quarter for missing on the top line, investors looked through those results and rewarded a 20 percent jump in non-hotel related earnings.
Casino operator Wynn Resorts actually beat revenue estimates but missed on earnings by a penny. More important to investors, however, were comments by CEO Matthew Maddox about the "sporadic" business from Chinese gamblers in Macau of late. The company operates three casinos in the former Portuguese colony. Maddox' comments confirmed fears that a slowing Chinese economy and falling financial markets would eventually impact the high rollers in Macau that the company depends on.
The Entrepreneur Index™ as a whole was down 0.28 percent today. The Dow index was up .04 percent while the S&P 500 was down 0.25 percent. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index declined 0.53 percent. Tech stocks on the Entrepreneur Index™ were almost all lower with NVIDIA Corp. (-3.65 percent), Netflix (-2.93 percent) and Twitter (-2.31 percent) posting the biggest declines.
The post-election bounce in the stock market was brief, as investors re-focused on rising interest rates and the Federal Reserve Bank. As expected, the Fed did not raise rates at its meeting today and did not change its stance on the policy of slowly raising short-term interest rates going forward. The two-year Treasury bond yield, which closely tracks the Fed funds rate, was up 2.5 points to 2.97 percent -- its highest level in more than a decade. If rates rise rapidly from here, it will hurt the stock market.
Interest rate sensitive D.R. Horton (-8.97 percent) was slammed today, after it forecast lower first quarter home sales than analyst estimates. As mortgage rates have climbed and home sales fallen, the homebuilder's stock has plunged. It is down 33 percent this year.
Oil and gas producer Hess Corp.also fell again as worries about rising global oil output and moderating demand continued to hurt the price of oil. It was down 1.67 percent today and Hess' stock fell 2.71 percent.
L Brands, makers of Victoria's Secret lingerie, produced some eye-popping numbers for October today. Sales were up 8 percent over the same month last year, crushing analyst estimates and driving the stock up 6.11 percent -- the second largest gain on the Entrepreneur Index™ today. Fellow clothing maker Ralph Lauren Corp. one of the few stocks to decline yesterday, was also up a healthy 3.78 percent.
Other notable gains on the day included O'Reilly Automotive Inc. (3.31 percent), Analog Devices (1.83 percent) and Intercontinental Exchange (1.78 percent).
Tesla shares were up 0.93 percent. The company announced the appointment of Robyn Denholm as chairwoman of the board today. Denholm, a director for Tesla since 2015, received nearly $5 million in stock options last year. Tesla was required to find a new chair to replace CEO Elon Musk as part of an agreement with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
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.
