What Happened?
Shares of electrical supply company WESCO (NYSE:WCC) fell 5.3% in the morning session after the company reported fourth-quarter 2025 earnings that missed Wall Street's profit expectations, even as revenue met forecasts.
The company posted adjusted earnings of $3.40 per share, falling 12.6% short of the $3.89 consensus estimate. Adjusted EBITDA of $408.6 million also came in below expectations. While WESCO's revenue grew 10.3% year-over-year to $6.07 billion, meeting analyst projections, the market appeared to focus on the weaker profitability. Adding to concerns, the company's free cash flow margin declined significantly to 0.5% from 4.9% in the same quarter last year, indicating a sharp drop in its ability to generate cash from operations. Overall, the earnings miss overshadowed the steady revenue performance, leading to a negative reaction from investors.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks. Is now the time to buy WESCO? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
What Is The Market Telling Us
WESCO’s shares are quite volatile and have had 15 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 4 days ago when the stock gained 6% on the news that the broader market rebounded from a tech-driven sell-off, with investors taking the opportunity to buy stocks at lower prices.
This rally was fueled by a recovery in technology stocks and a significant bounce in Bitcoin, which stabilized after losing over half its value from its October peak. Investor sentiment was also lifted by a surprising improvement in U.S. consumer sentiment and the realization that massive AI-related capital expenditure, such as Amazon's planned $200 billion, directly benefits chipmakers like Nvidia and Broadcom. These "pick-and-shovel" winners jumped as much as 7%, helping the S&P 500 edge back into positive territory for 2026. The highlight of the day was the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which surged and crossed the historic 50,000 threshold for the first time.
WESCO is up 12.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $284.14 per share, it is still trading 9.9% below its 52-week high of $315.27 from February 2026. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of WESCO’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $3,675.
The 1999 book Gorilla Game predicted Microsoft and Apple would dominate tech before it happened. Its thesis? Identify the platform winners early. Today, enterprise software companies embedding generative AI are becoming the new gorillas. Click here for access to our special report that reveals one profitable leader already riding this wave, it’s free.