The S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) is trading in the red this afternoon, despite rising steadily earlier in the session. However, the market's 0.3% decline is nothing compared to the losses being suffered by shareholders of these four companies:
Shine Corporate Ltd (ASX: SHJ) is the biggest story for the day as far as losses go. Its shares have collapsed, crashing 71% to just 58 cents, although they traded as low as 47 cents earlier. The law firm's shares emerged from a trading suspension this morning after the company revealed it expects earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) for financial year 2016 to be roughly $26 million, down from its original guidance of roughly $54 million. You can read more about it here.
Newcrest Mining Limited (ASX: NCM) shares have fallen sharply too, down 6.3% to $13.01, more than erasing yesterday's gains. A rising gold price and falling Australian dollar have acted as tailwinds for the gold producer so far this year, but overnight, gold prices fell and the Australian dollar strengthened. Both could work against the miner if the trends continue.
Northern Star Resources Ltd (ASX: NST) is another gold miner suffering heavy falls today. Its shares are down 9.7% to $2.98. The share price falls have likely also been caused by the unfavourable movements in the price of gold and the Australian dollar. The losses have perhaps been exacerbated by the announcement of three analyst downgrades this morning: Deutsche Bank and Canaccord Genuity both downgraded to Sell from Hold, while Macquarie downgraded it from Outperform to Neutral.
Healthscope Ltd (ASX: HSO) has also retreated 3.2%, taking its shares to just $2.13. Indeed, the shares have been stuck in a downwards spiral over the last 12 months, but have been hit particularly hard since November. Part of the sell-off was likely caused by private equity firms TPG and Carlyle Group which sold 350 million of their shares, although the shares could now be approaching a more reasonable price for investors to take another look.
