The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is bouncing back from yesterday's selloff and is pushing higher. At the time of writing, the benchmark index is up 0.4% to 8,225.4 points.
Four ASX shares that have failed to follow the market higher today are listed below. Here's why they are dropping:
Mesoblast Ltd (ASX: MSB)
The Mesoblast share price is down 7% to $2.61. This morning, this the allogeneic cellular medicines developer for inflammatory diseases announced that it has completed a global private placement. According to the release, this placement was made primarily to its existing major US, UK, and Australian shareholders. This has seen the biotech company raise a total of A$260 million (US$160 million) at a price of A$2.50 per new share. This represents a discount of 11% to where the Mesoblast share price last traded. The proceeds will be used partly to fund the US commercial launch of Ryoncil (remestemcel-L) for steroid-refractory acute graft-versus host disease (SR-aGvHD) in pediatric patients.
Myer Holdings Ltd (ASX: MYR)
The Myer share price is down a further 5.5% to 83.2 cents. This department store operator's shares have been sold off this week following the release of a disappointing trading update. For the 22 weeks ended 28 December, group comparable sales were in line with the prior corresponding period, but total sales were down 0.8% to approximately $1,592 million. Things were much worse for Myer's earnings, with EBIT down approximately 25% to $48 million.
Premier Investments Ltd (ASX: PMV)
The Premier Investments share price is down a further 5% to $26.41. Investors have also been selling the retail conglomerate's shares this week after it released a trading update. The Smiggle and Peter Alexander owner expects first half underlying Retail EBIT to be in the range of $160 million to $165 million. This represents a sizeable 21.3% to 23.7% decline year on year. In response, Goldman Sachs has taken a hammer to its earnings estimates. It said: "We update our forecasts for PMV post its worse than expected 1H25 trading update. We cut our FY25-27e group sales by ~4% and EBIT by ~18%."
Vulcan Energy Resources Ltd (ASX: VUL)
The Vulcan Energy share price is down over 2% to $6.01. This may have been driven by profit taking from some investors after very strong gains over the past 12 months. Despite all the doom and gloom in the lithium industry, Vulcan's shares have rallied approximately 180% since this time last year. Even yesterday its shares defied the market selloff after announcing the first production of its battery quality lithium hydroxide monohydrate (LHM).
