A good reminder that the stock market is a risky place particularly when you invest in individual stocks. These three popular brands saw significant drops in their stock prices last week. My idea for the assignment:

• Send your students on a Webquest to find articles explaining why these popular brands saw their stock prices get pummeled last week.
  • Go to Yahoo Finance and type in tickers GPRO, FB and FIT and then scroll down to Company News and skim 2-3 articles to discover the specific reasons that each stock lost value.

• For you math lovers out there, have your students also calculate the percentage drop in each of these stocks from the market open on Monday (October 31st) to the market close on Friday (November 4th).
• If you want to narrow the scope and provide some context for the students, here’s a list of common reasons that stock prices drop that they can choose from:
  • Earnings from most recent quarter did not meet expectations (investors expected certain earnings and they came in lower)
  • Company warned that future sales growth will be lower than expected
  • Company products no longer popular or new products not selling well
  • Competitive pressure – i.e. their competitors are doing better than they are
  • Management changes – the CEO or other key executives are leaving
  • Company has to invest more money in the business to grow it so will have less earnings
  • Company’s products are a fad
  • Other: students can add other reasons that they come across

GoPro:

Facebook

Fitbit

About the Author

Tim Ranzetta

Tim's saving habits started at seven when a neighbor with a broken hip gave him a dog walking job. Her recovery, which took almost a year, resulted in Tim getting to know the bank tellers quite well (and accumulating a savings account balance of over $300!). His recent entrepreneurial adventures have included driving a shredding truck, analyzing executive compensation packages for Fortune 500 companies and helping families make better college financing decisions. After volunteering in 2010 to create and teach a personal finance program at Eastside College Prep in East Palo Alto, Tim saw firsthand the impact of an engaging and activity-based curriculum, which inspired him to start a new non-profit, Next Gen Personal Finance.

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