PayPal, Qualcomm Tumble After Heavy Buying by Tommy Tuberville

Tech-heavy Nasdaq index gapped lower on Thursday after several tech companies reported weaker-than-expected results.

PayPal (PYPL:US) opened as much as 10% lower after the company’s Q2 transaction revenue trailed analyst estimates. Total payment volume (TPV) jumped 11% to $376.54 billion while revenue increased over 7% year-over-year to $7.29 billion, in line with the consensus.

Adjusted EPS was also in line with estimates ($1.15) but the operating margin missed the consensus by 70 basis points, ultimately helping shares to drive lower.

“Our second quarter results show continued momentum. We have high confidence that our business is on the right path and we're seeing clear signs that the investments we've made are paying off,” CEO Dan Schulman said in a press release.

Stock’s reaction to mixed results will be bad news for Senator Tommy Tuberville who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in May on buying PYPL shares, although he offloaded some a few weeks later.

Tuberville’s two large buy transactions occurred on May 10 and 11, when the stock closed at $63.38 and $64.18, respectively. Shares were trading around the $65 mark on Thursday.

Qualcomm (QCOM:US) reported soft results and gave weaker-than-expected guidance for its fourth fiscal quarter. The chipmaker saw its Q3 revenue decline 23% YoY to $8.44 billion, a larger-than-expected decline.

For this quarter, the company sees revenue at $8.5 billion, worse than the expected QoQ acceleration of $8.79 billion.

The Q3 adjusted EPS was $1.87 with the FQ4 projection sitting at $1.90. The consensus was looking for $1.81 and $1.94, respectively.

“We are pleased with our technology leadership, product roadmap and design-win execution, which position us well for growth and diversification in the long term,” said Cristiano Amon, President and CEO of Qualcomm.

Similarly, Tuberville was actively buying QCOM shares in June, when the stock was trading around the $115 mark. Following Thursday’s selloff, shares returned to trade below the $120 handle.