Yahoo Finance Why BlackBerry, AeroVironment, and Global Blood Therapeutics Slumped on Wednesday
The stock market enjoyed a relatively quiet Wednesday, with most major benchmarks ending the session very close to where they started it. Investors are struggling with all the potential problems that the markets face, including possible turbulence related to trade negotiation news that's likely to come out at this weekend's G-20 summit, as well as efforts by central banks to manage economic growth and interest rates. Yet for some companies, bad news sent their share prices lower. BlackBerry (NYSE: BB), AeroVironment (NASDAQ: AVAV), and Global Blood Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GBT) were among the worst performers. Here's why they did so poorly.
BlackBerry disconnects
Shares of BlackBerry dropped 9% after the mobile device pioneer released its fiscal first-quarter financial results. BlackBerry managed to post a modest adjusted profit of $5 million for the period, but year-over-year revenue growth of 16% using regular accounting rules fell well short of what growth investors had wanted to see. More alarming was the fact that one of the most promising growth centers of the business, its Internet of Things division, produced sales gains of just 5%. Given how important the enterprise software and IT solutions niche has become in the tech world, BlackBerry's slowdown there suggests competitive pressures that could plague the company well into the future.
Image source: Getty Images.
AeroVironment loses altitude
AeroVironment's stock fell 9% following the release of its fiscal fourth-quarter report. The drone maker continued to see its top line deteriorate, with a 23% drop in sales and net income that was down even more sharply from year-ago levels. AeroVironment tried to focus on the more encouraging aspects of its business, which included favorable comments about its tactical missile systems, applications for farmers and researchers, and tools to enable global connectivity. Yet with a fiscal 2020 forecast that pointed to further weakness ahead, AeroVironment shareholders are losing patience after having hoped for years that the drone specialist would eventually blossom into a leadership role in the industry.
Global Blood Therapeutics sells some stock
Finally, shares of Global Blood Therapeutics finished lower by 13%. The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company said late Tuesday that it intends to sell $200 million in stock through a secondary public offering. Global Blood hopes to use the cash to help it invest in its voxelotor candidate treatment for sickle cell disease, as well as other candidate drugs that it identifies in the future. As often happens, Global Blood chose to announce its offering when its stock was near all-time highs, and investors hope that despite the near-term drop and some recent concerns about voxelotor, they'll still be able to benefit from their holdings in the long run.
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Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends AeroVironment and BlackBerry. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
