Stocks That Got Hammered The Most This Week (AMZN, ARNA, BNVI, EK, F, INFN, MWW, MNTA, MMI, MYGN, PSTI, PMCS, QTM, TSRA)

Friday was a sea of red in the markets, but earnings season creates many winners and losers.  This last week brought on another interesting aspect: Many Stocks Got Hammered!  It was no easy task counting the number of stocks that fell by well into the double-digit percentages or major stocks which fell by close to that amount. This week’s tally was fourteen of the most bruised and battered actively traded stocks.

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) fell 7.2% to $171.14 on Friday on nearly 20 million shares.  Despite a 36% gain in earnings revenues fell short of estimates and its guidance was mixed as the margin pressure continues here.  Shares had hit an all-time high of $191.60 just a week before.

Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ARNA) died on Friday as shares fell 18.5% on more than 10 million shares to $1.63 after the company announced a 25% workforce cut while it focuses on regulatory approval of its diet drug called lorcaserin. Biotechs cutting workforce… bad.

Bionovo Inc. (NASDAQ: BNVI) is not as commonly discussed because of a low price, but its shares were hammered down by 20.9% Friday after a stock and warrant sale to help advance its menopause drug to late-stage trials.  Some 4.7 million shares traded and it fell to $0.87 versus a 52-week range of $0.84 to $3.15.  Friday marked a new 52-week low.

Eastman Kodak Co. (NYSE: EK) is about as ugly as it gets.  It lost a patent case and then on Wednesday announced a 95% drop in profits that missed expectations due to film, digital, and IP-licensing revenues.  Nothing ever works here and selling volume peaked at 70 million shares on Wednesday.  On Monday shares were $5.22, but on Friday shares closed at $3.64.  The tally comes to a drop of a whopping 30%… At least the short sellers cleaned up.

Ford Motor Co. (NYSE: F) caught everyone off guard on its earnings miss.  After so much improvement, what goes up exponentially must fall back down to reality.  Friday’s drop came to 13.4% in the red and on a massive 480 million shares on Friday alone.

Infinera Corp. (NASDAQ: INFN) was another huge loser on Friday with shares falling 17.9% to $7.37 on more than 11.2 million shares.  Its adjusted profit beat its forecasts, but the communication equipment maker gave guidance that was well under estimates.  Its 52-week range is $5.70 to $12.90.

Monster Worldwide Inc. (NYSE: MWW) was a serious loser this week.  After earnings and revenue came in very lackluster, its guidance was soft, it switched CFOs, and LinkedIn filed for an IPO.  Monster shares fell 25.4% to $15.95 on more than 21 million shares.

Momenta Pharmaceutical Inc. (NASDAQ: MNTA) was battered this week on fears that its role in selling generic blood thinners may be ending. Shares closed on Monday at $15.80 and closed out Friday at $12.49, withe the peak volume on Tuesday of almost 9 million shares.  Its drop for the week: -20.9%.  At $12.49, its 52-week range is $10.77 to $26.20.

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc. (NYSE: MMI) got its first dose of earnings as its own public company this week.  Earnings beat estimates but the first quarter is put at only break-even on an operational basis.  Shares were down over 12% on Thursday’s 12.65 million shares, but the drop continued on Friday.  The pre-earnings high of $34.83 on Wednesday turned into $29.59 on Friday by the close.  The drop here came to 15% from Wednesday’s close to Friday.

Myriad Genetics Inc. (NASDAQ: MYGN) had a very hard Friday as ist Q2-profit fell by 32%. Income tax provisions and margins were not enough to matter even after it affirmed the annual guidance.  Shares fell by 13.8% to $19.30 on Friday on volume of more than 7 million shares.

Pluristem Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: PSTI) was crushed on Thursday as shares were down by 26% to $3.09 after the cell therapy company showed the size and price of stock and warrant offering was very dilutive.  If it helps at all, shares were back up a whole 1.29% to $3.13 on Friday.

PMC-Sierra Inc. (NASDAQ: PMCS) saw its shares punished this week and Friday’s drop was 12.8% to $7.77 on more than 25 million shares after the provider of broadband communication chips said Q4 earnings fell by about 28% as margins fell and R&D costs rose.  On Monday, shares were at $9.00 on the close… making for a loss of almost 14% from Monday’s close to Friday’s close.

Quantum Corp. (NYSE: QTM) went from bad to worse after profits missed estimates due to an inability to close business in the quarter.  Guidance was weak too.  Shares were down more than 16% on Thursday to $3.01, but then shares slid yet another 8.3% on Friday down to $2.76.  After a close lower each day since Monday’s close of $3.93, the drop from Monday’s close to Friday’s close was a whopping 29.7%.

Tessera Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: TSRA) wished that Friday would not have come.  Despite a large gain in profit, revenue, and margins, Tessera lowered guidance and announced job cuts.  Shares closed down 19.3% to $17.11 on Friday on more than 2.8 million shares.

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JON C. OGG