Overall, 2024 was an exceptionally good year for equities. The S&P500 The index hit another record high on Wednesday and is up a healthy 24% year to date.
But as with any market, there are laggards here too. Here’s a look at the five worst-performing S&P 500 stocks so far in 2024. Are any of these beaten companies worth being considered at such a level?
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The bottom five are (in order from steepest price drop to narrowest): Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ: WBA), Estee Lauder (NYSE:EL), Dollar tree (NASDAQ: DLTR), Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)And Modern (NASDAQ: MRNA). Here’s the scorecard.
|
Stock |
Sector |
YTD price drop |
|---|---|---|
|
Walgreens Boots Alliance |
Healthcare |
64.6% |
|
Estee Lauder |
Cosmetics |
56.7% |
|
Dollar tree |
Retail |
56.1% |
|
Intel |
Technology |
50.3% |
|
Modern |
Healthcare |
47.8% |
Data source: Slickcharts.com. Note: YTD price drop as of market close on November 6.
The only repeat in the sector column is healthcare, indicating that these dire declines are not sector-specific (many segments of healthcare are thriving today). What we have here instead is a group of former high flyers currently trying to cope with the heavy pressure on their companies.
Intel, once the leader in PC processors, has been reeling from declining PC sales and continues to stumble in its attempts to reinvent itself. Walgreens and Dollar Tree still run heavy brick-and-mortar retail operations in an era dominated by online shopping. The effect of inflation on consumer spending has also hit the latter company.
As for the others, sentiment on Estée Lauder has been bruised by a lingering succession issue, not to mention an aggressive dividend cut. Meanwhile, investors are growing impatient for Moderna’s next triumph after Spikevax became a popular vaccine during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of the quintet, the only stock I think is a buy right now is Moderna, which continues to develop vaccines and drugs with the promising mRNA-based technology underlying Spikevax. Biotech companies need time and resources to come up with new products, and I think Moderna will come up with more advanced drugs and reward investors who are patient enough to wait.
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