It’s been an unpredictable three months on Wall Street, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 Index all experiencing significant drops followed by short but unstained rallies since reaching all-time highs in January. Diplomatic tensions, online privacy concerns and worries over global trade have all contributed to spooking investors. “We are experiencing very volatile conditions with the market reacting to the onslaught of daily news,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Financial. Shares of many of the Valley’s largest public companies have reflected these trends. Despite its pending acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox and the success of its blockbuster film “Black Panther,” Walt Disney Co. has seen shares fluctuate. It began the year at $111.80 on Jan. 2 before dropping 9 percent to $101.35 on Feb 8. Shares rallied back to $109.91 later in the month but fell again to $99.36 on March 27. That’s an 11 percent loss since the start of the year, causing the company’s market capitalization to fall $19 billion to less than $150 billion. Stock analysts have pointed out that it’s unusual for large and stable companies – such as Disney – to see stock fluctuations like that. But this area’s other big company has seen similar gyrations. Prices of Thousand Oaks biotech firm Amgen Inc. peaked at $198 on Jan. 9 before falling 13 percent by March 27. One the other hand, the NASDAQ Biotechnology Index, where Amgen is listed, lost 11 percent from its peak over the same period. Other sizable companies on the Business Journal’s Valley 50 list, including Public Storage, Avery Denison Corp. and American Homes 4 Rent, have also fallen at least 5 percent since the beginning of the year. Glendale-based Avery Dennison has been particularly hard hit, falling nearly 10 percent this year. Part of that plunge was because JPMorgan Chase & Co. recently downgraded shares of the company from “neutral” to “underweight” and lowered its price target. One relative bright spot has been the performance Semtech Corp. The Camarillo semiconductor manufacturer saw its stock price rise 13 percent from Jan. 2 to Mar 27. On March 14, it reported better-than-expected earnings of $28.5 million or 42 cents a share for the fourth quarter. Hogan of B. Riley said that he believes there’s no reason to panic over the erratic prices. “The economic data remains positive overall,” said Hogan. “The tax overhaul, repatriation, and higher earnings are expected to lead to an increase in stock buybacks and strong employment. On balance, the market seems to be pivoting from fears of a policy mistake to reacting to individual company stories, which is a much better place to be.” – Ethan Varian
