The Greece debt pendulum swung back in a bullish direction again today, as it now looks like the European Commission is giving the struggling country some time to make plans with its creditors. It was enough to push the market much higher for the day. The S&P 500 closed at 2,068.59 on Tuesday, up 1.1%.
Not every stock would be so lucky, however. Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (NYSE:FCX), Molson Coors Brewing Company (NYSE:TAP) and Denbury Resources Inc. (NYSE:DNR) were all victims of heavy selling, although for understandable reasons.
Denbury Resources (DNR)
Just for the record, all energy and oil stocks were down sharply today on the heels of a steep decline in oil price. Denbury Resources, however, was the worst of the worst, losing more than 8% of its value.
All told, crude oil fell more than 5% on Tuesday, closing near $50.20 per barrel. The spark for the selloff was multi-pronged, the most damning of which was a five-year outlook from the International Energy Agency suggesting oil prices were likely to remain well below the $100 level for longer than many were expecting.
Freeport-McMoRan (FCX)
Oil wasn’t the only commodity pulling the rug out from underneath its stocks today. Copper is just as culpable … perhaps even more so.
On Tuesday, copper (and gold) miner Freeport-McMoRan lost 4% of its value. FCX has now lost more than 50% of its value since peaking near $39 per share in July. The move reflects a similar move from copper prices, which have fallen from $3.20 per pound then to less than $2.60 per pound now. The price of $2.44 seen in late January was the lowest price we’ve seen since 2008.
Molson Coors Brewing Company (TAP)
Last but not least, not every big loser today was a commodity name. Beer-brewer Molson Coors Brewing Company used the old-fashioned way to spook investors — posting disappointing earnings.
All told, Molson Coors Brewing Company posted an ajdusted profit of 55 cents per share on $973.8 million in sales for its fourth quarter. That wasn’t as good as the year-ago profit of 68 cents per share of TAP stock, and the top line was lower than the Q4 2013 revenue total of $1.03 billion.
That was the least of the company’s worries, however. The bigger reason TAP stock fell more than 4% on Tuesday was the miss on earnings estimates. Analysts were collectively expecting Molson Coors Brewing Company to post a profit of 69 cents per share. The company did manage to top revenue estimates of $969.18 million, but with such a wide miss on the earnings front, traders weren’t impressed.
Still, the company also announced on Tuesday it was initiating a $1 billion repurchase program of TAP stock, and would be raising its dividend by 11%.
As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities.
