Why Campbell Soup, Signet Jewelers, and DSW Slumped Today

Tuesday was another great day for the stock market, as investors seemingly got an early start on their holiday celebrations. The Dow Jones Industrials climbed triple digits to move into record territory, while other benchmarks also posted solid gains of around 0.5% to 1%. Strength in the technology industry was particularly noteworthy, but gains were widespread across the market as investors responded favorably to good prospects for economic expansion as well as progress on tax reform. Yet some individual stocks didn't react in the same way as the broader market, and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), Signet Jewelers (NYSE: SIG), and DSW (NYSE: DSW) were among the worst performers on the day. Below, we'll tell you why they did so poorly.

Campbell cools off

Shares of Campbell Soup dropped 8% after the soup maker reported its first-quarter financial results. Revenue sagged 2% on an 8% drop in adjusted earnings per share, but particularly troubling were comments from the company that one of its major customers disagreed with Campbell about how to promote soup products in the coming fiscal year. The company now expects earnings to decline in fiscal 2018 compared to the previous year, reversing previous guidance for a possible rise on the bottom line. With Campbell having had to deal with a long secular decline in demand for its products, greater competition and operational challenges are just another difficulty that the company will have to overcome.

Signet loses its luster

Signet Jewelers stock plunged 30% in the wake of the company's disappointing third-quarter financial report. The jewelry company said that revenue fell 2.5% on a 5% drop in same-store sales, with hurricanes and other weather-related effects accounting for about a quarter of the decline in comps. A substantial drop in Signet's expectations for full-year profits also weighed on the stock. Even though Signet has worked hard to make longer-term strategic moves, including e-commerce-motivated acquisitions and the outsourcing of its credit portfolio, investors want to see more concrete performance improvements show up in quarterly reports in the future.

DSW can't run fast enough

Finally, shares of DSW finished down 13%. The shoe retailer reported its third-quarter results this morning, and the news wasn't good, with just a 2% rise in revenue and a 14% drop in adjusted net income. Comparable-store sales fell 0.4%, reversing a gain from the second quarter of 2017, and the company blamed hurricane-related headwinds that it said prevented it from posting a second straight rise in comps. DSW also cut its earnings guidance for the full year. Going into the key holiday season, investors weren't happy that the shoe retailer wasn't more upbeat about its near-term future.

Offer from The Motley Fool: The 10 best stocks to buy nowMotley Fool co-founders Tom and David Gardner have spent more than a decade beating the market. In fact, the newsletter they run, Motley Fool Stock Advisor, has tripled the S&P 500!*

Tom and David just revealed their ten top stock picks for investors to buy right now.

Click here to get access to the full list!

*Stock Advisor returns as of Nov. 6, 2017.

Dan Caplinger has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends DSW. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.