Why Barnes & Noble, Aspen Insurance Holdings, and Leggett & Platt Slumped Today
Thursday was a relatively quiet day on Wall Street, as stock market participants dealt with mixed signals. On one hand, positive news related to debt ceiling negotiations suggested that lawmakers and the White House might finally be able to move forward on key domestic policy issues. Yet Hurricane Irma now looks likely to hit not only Florida but also a wider swath of the Southeastern U.S., and the storm could prove one of the most costly natural disasters in the nation's history. But beyond the broader issues impacting the market as a whole, there was also some company-specific bad news that pushed individual stock prices lower. Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS), Aspen Insurance Holdings (NYSE: AHL), and Leggett & Platt (NYSE: LEG) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we'll tell you why they did so poorly.
Barnes & Noble dropped 9.6% after the book-centric retailer announced poor results from its fiscal first-quarter. Total revenue sank 7% on a nearly 5% drop in comparable-store sales, and in contrast to prior periods, much of the weakness came from outside its traditional book business. The retailer's net losses narrowed from year-ago levels, but not by as much as most analysts following the stock had hoped. Barnes & Noble management said they were hopeful that the remainder of the year will go better, but many of the adverse trends that have plagued the bookseller for years look likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
Image source: Barnes & Noble.
Source: Fool.com
