The Dire News That Has These Five Stocks Falling Today

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Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) is off by 3.3% after the company shut down 43 restaurants in Oregon and Washington due to a potential E-coli outbreak. Analysts suspect the fresh produce products of a local Chipotle supplier may have been contaminated. Given Chipotle has a total of 1,931 restaurants, the company closing 43 restaurants for a period of time isn’t going to negatively affect the top and bottom line earnings very much, although it remains to be seen whether the outbreak will lower demand for other stores as well. Investors don’t think it will, however, as the stock has rebounded from its morning lows (when the stock was off by as much as 5%).

Hedge funds were bearish on Chipotle Mexican Grill, Inc. (NYSE:CMG) in the second quarter. A total of 36 funds reported holding stakes in the stock worth $884.43 million, amounting to 4.70% of the outstanding shares, versus 37 funds with ownership of $1.15 billion in shares a quarter earlier. Jim Simons‘ Renaissance Technologies held 313,500 shares.

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Ecolab Inc. (NYSE:ECL) is down by 4% in morning trading after the company reported third quarter earnings of $1.28 per share on revenue of $3.45 billion, meeting profit expectations but missing revenue estimates by $90 million. Guidance is a bit soft as the strong dollar weighs on business, with management expecting EPS of $4.35-to-$4.45 for 2015, versus the previous guidance of $4.45-to-$4.60. Shares are still up by 10% year-to-date and should do well once energy prices and emerging markets rebound. 23 funds we track reported Ecolab stakes worth $2.25 billion as of the end of June, with Michael Larson‘s Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Trust owning 4.37 million shares.

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Disclosure: None

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