Some value investors love to look through the field of the biggest losers in their “value stock” screens. Other investors want to focus solely on the stocks that are winning at a given moment. How ever you like to invest is up to you. Oggonomics is featuring the best and worst stocks so far in 2024. The first list is the top losers of 2024 and a brief explanation of what is going on. On top of year-to-date (YTD) gains, another look has been given to how shares are performing over the last year (or even longer) to see if the losses are ongoing or whether it is a 2024 issue.
These have been ranked in order of the ten largest losers, with the worst stock first and tenth worst stock of 2024 shown last. No investment views other than basic color of what’s happening now that got each stock here. How each investor views each of these stocks is solely up to them and no directional opinions have been offered by Oggonomics.
Charts have been added below for each stock.
FIRST TO TENTH WORST LOSERS OF 2024
Walgreens Boots Alliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBA) is the worst performer of all S&P 500 stocks in 2024. The pharmacy chain has had a slew of problems beyond just being booted out of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. Now it is facing thousands of store closure and will never have the same large footprint ever again if history holds true. Walgreens shares are down 53.6% YTD, but it is still down even worse over the last year at -57.3%.
Lululemon Athletica Inc. (NASDAQ: LULU) has been an endless growth engine for years and years. Now Lululemon finds itself as the second worse stock of the S&P 500 so far in 2024 as growth expectations are seeing closer to 10% sales growth ahead. Lululemon’s stock is down 41.7% so far in 2024 but that’s down only about 19.5% from a year ago.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) is just fighting for relevance as the world’s semiconductor and processor trends migrate over to A.I. Analysts have cut targets and ratings continually and the stock has managed to even underperform expectation worse than expected. Foundry losses are projected to go into 2027. Intel’s performance is down 38.9% YTD but the stock is still down only 6.8% from a year ago.
EPAM Systems, Inc. (NYSE: EPAM) provides digital platform engineering and software development services, but maybe it isn’t keeping up with A.I. despite that being in its offerings. EPAM was the S&P 500’s fourth worst performer YTD. Its drop was last seen at 37.3% YTD, and that is down 17.1% from a year ago.
Warner Bros. Discovery, Inc. (NASDAQ: WBD) is the fifth worst performer of the S&P 500 in 2024. After years of underperforming, the media giant could not find an outright buyer any easier than it can find new willing and able shareholders. WBD’s stock was down 35% in the first half of 2024, and that is down 40.5% from a year ago. The stock was at $25 back in 2022, down to under $7.50 as the second-half kicks of this year off.
Solventum Corporation (NYSE: SOLV) is the health spin-off of 3M and its post-conglomerate debut has been less than blissful. Solventum traded as high as $70 shortly after its April trading debut and the stock was last seen down at $52.88 as the second half ended. Its screen is -23.3% YTD, but it’s down 24.5% from its peak.
Albermarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) has been punished handily as lithium’s endless demand has been tempered by more realistic rollouts of electric vehicles by automakers because consumers just aren’t lining up to buy these cars at the endless growth rates over the prior decade. Albermarle shares are down 33.5% YTD, but that’s down 56% from a year ago.
Paycom Software, Inc. (NYSE: PAYC) is a cloud-based human capital management for small and mid-sized businesses that just isn’t growing as fast any longer. Maybe its customers are more focused on A.I. initiatives with their IT budgets. Paycom is the 8th worst S&P 500 stock of 2024 as it’s down 31.7% YTD, but the shares are actually even worse over the last year with a 55% drop.
MarketAxess Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ: MKTX) had its big drop in January, but despite trying to find a bottom it has staged no serious recovery as of yet. And analysts are not super bullish either for this electronic trading platform for bonds. MKTX shares were close to $200 for the kick-off of the second half but the stock was last seen down 31.7% YTD. That’s down only about 23.7% from a year ago. It’s also down about 65% since 2020.
NIKE, Inc. (NYSE: NKE) just blew through its 52-week low and is challenging 5-year lows after yet another earnings report had bad earnings or guidance to worry shareholders. NIKE’s stock was down 31.3% YTD, but that’s also about -34.2% from a year ago.
CHARTS TO SEE
Charts have been provided by StockCharts.com and include the performance of the S&P 500 (SPY) and how each of the top-10 losers of the S&P 500 have been in the first six-months of the year.
