Major U.S. indexes are experiencing a wild week amid renewed trade tensions that appeared to come out of nowhere. It all started last Sunday when President Trump suddenly tweeted that he intends to hike tariffs on billions of dollars of Chinese imports up to 25%. Since then, the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average have respectively dropped 2.2% and 2% so far this week.
Markets seemed to continue those losses during Wednesday’s session despite another presidential tweet indicating that Chinese officials plan to visit the U.S. to hammer out a trade deal. The S&P still fell 0.2% on the day, while the Dow pulled out a negligible 0.01% gain.
Here are the top three companies that experienced the biggest swings on Wednesday…
No. 3: Diamondback Energy Inc. (FANG)
Shares of the Texas-based oil and natural gas producer rocketed after it released strong first-quarter earnings and announced a brand-new stock buyback program. The firm reported earnings per share (EPS) of $1.39, surpassing the average analyst estimate of $1.36 by 2.2%. And while Diamondback’s revenue of $864 million fell short 1.3% short of estimates, it was still a massive 80% increase from $480.2 million a year ago. According to the report, Diamondback’s daily oil and natural gas output also more than doubled year-over-year to 263 million barrels of oil equivalent.
The announced $2 billion stock buyback initiative excited investors the most, who pushed the stock up 7.8% to $105.85. At that level, FANG stock commands a year-to-date gain of 14.2% since closing at $92.70 on Dec. 31.
No. 2: DaVita Inc. (DVA)
DaVita is a healthcare company specializing in kidney and dialysis services based out of Denver that dropped to its lowest levels of the month after reporting weaker-than-expected Q1 earnings. The firm earned only $0.91 per share during the January-March period, missing Wall Street’s expected $0.95 per share by 4.2%. The $2.74 billion in revenue also fell 2.8% short of analysts’ $2.82 billion estimate.
Market participants responded negatively to the miss on both the top and bottom lines, sending shares 8.6% lower on the day from $56.60 at Tuesday’s close to $51.76 by Wednesday’s. DVA stock is now up only 0.6% from the 2018 settlement of $51.46.
No. 1: TripAdvisor Inc. (TRIP)
The S&P’s biggest loser on Wednesday was TripAdvisor, the travel-booking platform that endured double-digit losses in the wake of a bleak Q1 earnings report. Most of the company’s notable metrics declined except for EPS, which came in just above the $0.31 forecast at $0.36. Sales, on the other hand, came in at $376 million, a 1% year-over-year decrease that fell short of the 2% growth rate most analysts anticipated. The number of monthly unique visitors also declined 5% to an average of 411 million, far below the firm’s seasonal peak of 490 million in the third quarter of 2018.
TripAdvisor’s lackluster earnings resulted in a massive 11.4% loss, as shares fell from $54.94 to $48.67 by Wednesday’s close. TRIP stock is now in the red for the year, down 9.8% from the Dec. 31 close of $53.94.