Stericycle, Cameco Among 5 Stocks That Hit 52-Week Lows This Week

It’s been a volatile week for the markets, as all three major indexes fell sharply on Friday as interest rate hike fears resurfaced and crude futures sold off hard. Although the Fed has repeatedly hinted that the coming rate hikes will be gradual, traders went into ‘risk off’ mode and the sudden change in sentiment caused several stocks to hit 52-week lows.

In this article, we’ll examine five companies that hit yearly lows this week and we use the latest 13F data to see how the smart money traded the five equities in the second quarter. Those companies are Cameco Corporation (USA) (NYSE:CCJ), SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR), Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO), Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM), and Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL),

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Cameco Corporation (USA) (NYSE:CCJ) touched a 52-week low on Friday as sentiment around the uranium miner remains bearish. Shares of Cameco have retreated sharply in 2016 due to soft uranium prices and spotty execution. For the second quarter, Cameco reported a surprise loss of $0.14 per share as uranium sales volumes fell and prices remained weak; analysts had estimated a profit of $0.09 per share. Lower-than-expected full-year revenue guidance also hurt the stock in some traders’ eyes. Uranium prices will need to rise for Cameco to do well. 19 funds in our system had a bullish position in Cameco Corporation (USA) (NYSE:CCJ) at the end of June, down by two funds from the end of March.

Despite China and the United States formally agreeing to the Paris Accords last week, SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) can’t seem to escape its downtrend. Shares of the solar producer hit a 52-week low of $9.27 on the last day of the week as traders remain concerned about oversupply in the industry. Although SunPower is one of the stronger companies in the sector and supply and demand will eventually balance out, it is uncertain when the current solar down cycle will end. The number of funds tracked by Insider Monkey with holdings in SunPower Corporation (NASDAQ:SPWR) rose by four quarter-over-quarter to 19 at the end of June.

On the next page, we’ll find out why Tractor Supply Company, Sprouts Farmers Market, and Stericycle Inc hit 52-week lows last week.

Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) was the victim of weak guidance this week. Due to soft demand from the energy and agricultural markets, Tractor Supply’s management trimmed their 2016 EPS guidance to $3.22-to-$3.26 from the previous $3.35-to-$3.40. Analysts are expecting $3.38 per share for the year. Given the lower 2016 outlook and soft third-quarter guidance, several analysts downgraded the stock and/or lowered their price targets on it. Among them were analysts at Wedbush, who cut their rating on the stock to ‘Neutral’ from ‘Outperform’ and slashed their price target on it to $72 from $96. Throw in the weak price action of the broader market on Friday, and it isn’t surprising that Tractor Supply hit a 52-week low on Friday. 29 funds in our database owned shares of Tractor Supply Company (NASDAQ:TSCO) as of the most recent 13F reporting period.

Like Tractor Supply, Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM) was the victim of a weak outlook this week. On the account of weak pricing in the industry, the competitive landscape, and softer demand from consumers, Sprouts Farmers Market issued disappointing full-year 2016 guidance on Wednesday. For the year, the company’s management expects EPS to be between $0.83 and $0.86, well off of the average analyst estimate of $0.94. The company also anticipates comparable-store sales growth of between 1.5% and 2.5%, a range lower than some analysts’ estimates. 22 funds that we follow owned shares of Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ:SFM) on June 30, owning 3.90% of its shares in aggregate.

Last but not least, Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL) shares remain in an intermediate downtrend that began when the company announced an accounting error in late-July. Specifically, loss reserves for two litigation cases were recognized in a way that overstated profit by $46.5 million for the first quarter of 2015. Due to the understating of profit in the second and third quarters, Stericycle’s full-year results were not affected by the error however, according to Bloomberg. Lower-than-expected EPS guidance of between $4.68 and $4.75 for the full-year (when analysts were expecting $4.90) has also played a part in the sell-off. David Blood and Al Gore‘s Generation Investment Management bought a new stake of over 2.2 million shares in Stericycle Inc (NASDAQ:SRCL) in the second quarter.

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