Lam Research guided to $2.33 a share. Analysts wanted $2.31. Lam cleared the bar and got sent to the cellar anyway.
The stock dropped more than 11%.
Here is the press release. Lam Research is pleased to announce it did everything right and has been punished accordingly. Revenue guidance of $8.60 billion topped the $8.53 billion consensus. Management thanks shareholders for their patience and regrets to inform them that patience was not on the menu. The board will now meet to discuss why being correct costs $30 a share.
You read the earnings. I read the chart. The chart said the AI trade was already wobbling and Lam walked into the room holding a casserole.
Meanwhile, Procter & Gamble climbed 6% for selling Tide and Ivory soap. Adjusted earnings came in at $2.00 against $1.88 expected. Revenue hit $23.28 billion. People will always need to wash things. The market looked at the AI buildout, looked at detergent, and chose detergent.
Blackstone gained 6% on $1.32 a share against $1.26 expected. Assets under management hit $1.368 trillion. That is a lot of other people's money to be calm about.
Southwest rose 5% after cutting its profit forecast to $2.60-$2.85 a share from $3.25-$4.25. Read that again. They slashed the outlook by a Hawaiian vacation and the stock went up. Somewhere a retail trader is holding Southwest calls with a trembling hand and a wet face, trying to explain this to a spouse.
The retail trader bought Lam Research for the semiconductor story. He is now learning the story had a sequel called Sell-Off.
Soap rallied. Chips collapsed. Your portfolio is being run by people who found Pampers more reliable than your AI thesis.
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