Although there have been a few ups and downs along the way, in the last 30 days the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) has managed to put on a solid gain of 2.7%.
Going against the trend and no doubt giving their shareholders a few sleepless nights are three shares in particular. Here are the reasons why these shares are amongst the worst performers on the market during this time:
Cardno Limited (ASX: CDD)
Cardno shares took a dive after the leading infrastructure and environmental services provider released an update to the market recently downgrading its full year earnings guidance.
Previously management had provided earnings guidance of between $65 million and $70 million. But due to lower demand for its services from the energy sector, the company now expects full year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation to come in between $40 million and $45 million.
Making things worse was the news that Cardno may need to undertake a capital raising to ensure it stays within its bank leverage covenants. Because of this the shares have dropped by around 17% in the last 30 days.
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT)
Flight Centre's share price has fallen 15% in the last 30 days thanks largely to a recent profit downgrade which shocked the market and had many investors running for the exits.
The company is now expecting full year underlying profit before tax to be down by up to 5% on last year's result of $366 million. Previously, Flight Centre's management team had forecast profit growth of 2% to 4% year-on-year.
Flight Centre has placed the blame for lower booking levels on numerous factors such as the Australian election, Britain's EU referendum, the Zika virus, and airfare price wars.
I believe most of these factors should be temporary, which could make the Flight Centre sell-off an opportunity for bargain hunters to snap up its shares on the cheap.
Independence Group NL (ASX: IGO)
Shareholders of Independence Group have seen their investments drop in value by around 13% in the last 30 days. Its shares have come under heavy selling pressure since it released its quarterly report at the end of April.
Independence Group delivered a disappointing quarter which saw year-on-year declines in revenue to $88.5 million, and net profit after tax declines of almost 86% to $2.8 million.
The sudden deterioration of its balance sheet was what worried me most when reading its reports. This time last year the company was looking incredibly healthy with $103 million cash in the bank and just $1.1 million of debt.
But here we are 12 months later and the company now has $240 million of debt and a cash balance of just $37 million. With the gold price looking like it could start falling lower and 45% of its revenue coming from its gold projects, I personally would stay away from Independence Group for now.
