Investing

4 Companies That Destroyed Shareholders Last Week

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The August doldrums are seemingly over. We hit a new high for the markets and now we have taken a big step back. There are a fair number of questions for what is in store and if the Fed raises the rates next week.

Despite all the recent volatility and market highs, quite a few companies played their part in pulling back the market over the course of this week.

24/7 Wall Street has picked out a few companies posting the largest losses for the week. We have included a note on why each stock has lagged, as well as a recent trading history, consensus analyst price target and a 52-week trading range.

Novavax

After the company reported top-line results from its RSV F Vaccine trials, shareholders pummeled Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) on Friday. Essentially, the Resolve Phase 3 trial of RSV F Vaccine in 11,856 older adults (60 years of age and older), failed to meet the pre-specified primary or the secondary efficacy objectives and did not demonstrate vaccine efficacy. RSV takes up a majority of the Novavax pipeline, with two of its indications in Phase 3. Novavax influenza treatment is the second closest to completion, with two of its vaccines in Phase 2. The remainder of the pipeline is still in Phase 1.

Shares of Novavax closed the week out down nearly 83.6% at $1.28. The stock has a consensus price target of $14.11 and a 52-week range of $1.16 to $10.70.

Geron

While Geron Corp. (NASDAQ: GERN) has never been a stock without controversy, that controversy used to revolve around stem cells. Now it is a controversial stock for another reason. The driving force for the news was that Geron provided updates on the clinical trials being conducted by Janssen Research of the telomerase inhibitor imetelstat. Planned internal reviews of initial data from both trials have been completed by Janssen, and both trials are continuing in order to evaluate additional and more mature data. The company said:

Further assessment of data from IMergeTM is expected to occur in the second quarter of 2017 to include longer follow-up of all patients enrolled in Part 1. A decision on whether to move forward to Part 2 of IMergeTM will be based on an assessment of the benefit/risk profile of imetelstat in these patients. If Janssen decides to move forward with Part 2, the Phase 3 clinical trial is expected to be open for patient enrollment in mid-2017.

Shares of Geron ended the week down 34.3%. The stock was last trading at $1.88, with a consensus price target of $4.38 and a 52-week range of $1.84 to $5.30.

Polaris Industries

Following an update to its full-year guidance on Monday, Polaris Industries Inc. (NYSE: PII) shares slid. The company expects its 2016 earnings per share (EPS) to be in the range of $3.30 to $3.80, which is about $2.50 to $2.70 lower than previously expected. About two-thirds of this amount was expected to be incurred in the third quarter. The company also expects that full-year sales will be down in the mid to high single-digit percentage range, versus the previously issued guidance of flat to down 2%.

Consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters call for EPS of $6.01 and $4.65 billion in revenue for the 2016 full-year. The numbers from 2015 came out to $6.75 in EPS on $4.72 billion in revenue.

Polaris shares had a rocky road as well, with the stock down 12.8% for the week. Shares were last at $70.50, with a consensus price target of $83.75 and a 52-week range of $67.80 to $128.87.

VimpelCom

VimpelCom Ltd. (NASDAQ: VIP) has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for a secondary offering. The company intends to offer 142.5 million American depositary shares (ADSs) at a price of $3.50 apiece, with an overallotment option for an additional 21.375 million. Each ADS represents one common share of the company. At the set price, the entire offering is valued up to $573.56 million. Note that the company will not receive any proceeds from the offering.

Last week, the stock was down 12.8%. Shares closed at $3.40 on Friday, with a consensus price target of $5.33 and a 52-week range of $2.71 to $4.98.

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