While Carvana (CVNA) seems to be pivoting on a better path, it still has lots to prove. Unless the company shows continued tangible progress on meeting its targets, it is better to remain on the sidelines.
Carvana (NYSE: CVNA) made a big mistake when it slammed the growth accelerator during the pandemic years; total debt quadrupled in just a few years to $8.3 billion. The Federal Open Market Committee's aggressive shift in interest rate policy tightened the lending environment last year, and now Carvana's scrambling as investors demand profitability from their stocks. The stock's 98% decline from its high is a loud statement about the market's skepticism toward Carvana.
The stock market suffered a setback late Wednesday, with major market benchmarks falling in the last hour of trading after the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by a quarter percentage point. Declines for the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX: ^IXIC), Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI), and S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) were close to identical. Investors reacted negatively to the idea that rates might remain high longer than hoped, and comments from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) likely wouldn't boost the amount of assets protected by deposit insurance also seemed to raise fears about the health of the banking system.