Key Points
- DICK'S Sporting Goods formed a death cross after missing Q2 earnings and lowering full-year guidance amid weakness in its Foot Locker footwear and apparel segments.
- IonQ's shares fell more than 45% from their 2026 high and formed a death cross, reflecting quantum computing's speculative nature and the company's continued heavy losses.
- Procter & Gamble, a Dividend King, developed a death cross as inflation, tariff pressure, and rising Treasury yields weighed on the consumer staples giant's stock.
- Special Report: #1 Stock to Own as Trump Launches Historic Mission Backing "Medical AI"
Technical indicators aren’t crystal balls, but when a death cross emerges on a stock’s chart, it tends to catch investors’ attention. The bearish pattern—which shows up when the 50-day moving average crosses under its 200-day moving average—can serve as a sign of more trouble ahead.
For the following three stocks, that technical weakness recently popped up on their respective one-year charts. And for investors who are keeping an eye on their respective sectors, the pattern hints at weakening consumer spending, a waning appetite for speculative tech stocks, and inflation-squeezed consumer staples.
Slumping Sneaker Sales Aren’t DICK’S Only Problem
On Aug. 25, DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) reported abysmal Q2 earnings.
Earnings per share (EPS) of $3.53 missed the consensus of $3.74, while revenue of $5.59 billion missed the consensus of $5.64 billion.
Year over year (YOY), EPS decreased 19.4% from $4.38 in Q2 2025.
The earnings miss was the company’s second in a row, which management attributed to its promotional footwear and apparel segments facing profitability pressure. Ultimately, DICK’S lowered its full-year non-GAAP EPS guidance to a range of $11–$12 from $13.50–$14.50.
Foot Locker remained the primary weakness. Pro forma comparable sales fell 3.6% in Q2, and the business posted a $31.9 million operating loss, and full-year guidance now calls for a $40 million–$80 million operating loss versus prior expectations for a profit.
In his earnings call comments, Executive Chairman Ed Stack admitted that “inventory built up in parts of the industry, particularly within certain legacy footwear silhouettes and apparel franchises that simply are not resonating the way they once did.”
Ahead of the report, the stock had remained remarkably flat this year. But shares fell off a cliff in the wake of the report, gapping down nearly 31% in a single session. The sell-off pushed DICK’S closer to a bearish death cross, which emerged later that week as its 50-day moving average crossed below its 200-day moving average.
Beyond technical indicators, fundamental issues persist. Management expects margin pressure to persist through at least Q4, citing particular difficulties from aggressive discounting, excess inventory, an increasingly cautious consumer and ongoing geopolitical concerns. Q3 margin pressure is expected to be the most pronounced.
More broadly, there doesn’t appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel for consumer discretionary stocks. This year, they’ve performed the second-worst among the S&P 500’s 11 sectors with a year-to-date (YTD) loss of around 2%, and over the trailing three months, that loss has accelerated to around 4%.
IonQ Is Suffering From Quantum Computing’s Speculative Nature
Over the past year, quantum computing stocks have enjoyed the tailwinds of the Trump administration’s decision to take minority equity stakes in nine quantum companies.
The initiative was part of a $2 billion federally funded effort that drew money from the Biden administration’s 2022 CHIPS and Science Act.
IonQ (NYSE: IONQ) wasn’t one of those nine, but the company benefited from the catalyst nonetheless.
From its YTD low on March 30 to its YTD high on May 29, the stock rallied nearly 164%. But since then, it’s all been downhill.
By the end of July, shares were challenging their YTD low, and by the start of September, IONQ had fallen more than 45% from its 2026 high culminating in a death cross pattern.
Despite the stock’s run-up earlier this year, the reality remains that quantum computing remains highly speculative. Its applications remain largely theoretical, though they are advancing rapidly. Still, many pure-play quantum computing companies are pre-profit, while others are only generating minimal revenue.
For IonQ, that’s precisely the case. When the company reported Q2 earnings on Aug. 5, it announced EPS of negative 33 cents. That beat analyst expectations of negative 56 cents, and YOY revenue growth of nearly 287% was a welcome figure. But in actual dollars, revenue was just over $80 million.
IonQ remains heavily investment-driven, reporting negative adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization of $120.3 million and GAAP operating expenses of $417.3 million. Meanwhile, the company recorded a $1.87 billion GAAP net loss.
While the EPS beat was a nice surprise, it was IonQ’s first in four quarters, and Q2 earnings growth was negative 625.71%. Short interest remains elevated at more than 11%, while institutional ownership is at just over 41%.
P&G Proves That Dividend Kings Aren’t Immune to the Death Cross
When market uncertainty abounds, conventional wisdom suggests that investors seek shelter in consumer staples.
But given the recent performance of 189-year-old multinational consumer goods company Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), even Dividend Kings in defensive sectors aren’t immune to weak consumer sentiment, tariff pressure, and geopolitical unrest.
From its YTD high on Feb. 27, shares are down more than 10%, which isn’t particular to P&G but rather is a symptom of a larger problem.
Input inflation costs are beginning to outpace consumers’ willingness to absorb price hikes—even for consumer staples. Meanwhile, surging Treasury yields are reducing demand for low-yielding defensive stocks like P&G, whose dividend only spins off 2.95% despite 70 consecutive years of increases.
When the company reported Q4 2026 earnings on July 29, it beat on the bottom line despite narrowly missing on the top line.
Despite EPS beats since Q4 2022, financial performance hasn’t mirrored the success of that track record. Annualized revenue growth has averaged just 2.07% in the four years since its last miss, while EPS growth registered just 1.69% in fiscal 2026.
Fiscal 2027 guidance doesn’t hint at much improvement. Organic sales are expected to grow just 1%–3% and core EPS 0%–3%, with approximately $1.4 billion of after-tax headwinds from input costs, foreign exchange, interest expense, and lower non-operating income. Q1 EPS is expected to decline at least 5%.
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