Investing

Ralph Lauren, SanDisk, Chesapeake Lead the 2015 Worst S&P 500 Stocks

This past week was yet another one that took some of the charge out of the bulls. The Dow posted marginal gains on Friday, but this week’s drop ticked the Dow ever so slightly into the red for 2015. The close of 17,712.66 put the index down 0.6% year to date. The S&P 500 index closed up almost five points at 2,061.02 on Friday, giving the S&P’s year-to-date return as a whopping 0.1% for 2015.

24/7 Wall St. wanted to highlight the worst large stocks of the year. The S&P 500 is more widely representative of the economy than the Dow, so we have highlighted the worst year-to-date performers of the index.

Some of the losers are just what you would expect: energy with four of the 10 laggards, and three in technology. Interestingly enough, three of the biggest losers of the S&P 500 for 2015 have lagging consumer themes that you just might not have expected.

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SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) has had its problems with guidance of late, and the move to SSDs and flash memory is currently passing SanDisk by. Its most recent close of $64.59 gave it a year-to-date performance of -33.83%. SanDisk has warned enough now that investors cannot trust the estimates. It still is valued at 14 times those consensus 2015 estimates as well. That may be cheap to the broad S&P indices, but that isn’t cheap compared to other big tech stocks that are having problems. SanDisk has a 52-week trading range of $63.56 to $108.77 and a consensus analyst price target of $82.66 — although that consensus target is rapidly coming down.

Ralph Lauren Corp. (NYSE: RL) was shocking to see on the list. Perhaps its U.S. pricing is making it harder to sell the goods now, but much of Ralph Lauren’s materials and manufacturing is outside of the United States. The higher-end apparel shares are now down 28.87% so far in 2015. Its $131.22 close compares to a 52-week range of $127.29 to $187.49. Ralph Lauren also has a consensus price target of $148.95.

Ensco PLC (NYSE: ESV) is the third largest loser of the S&P year to date, but it is the worst performing of all S&P 500 stocks tied to oil and gas. Trading at $21.28, its share performance is -28.49% so far in 2015. Ensco has a 52-week range of $19.78 to $55.89 and a consensus price target of $26.48. Its market cap of $5 billion makes it smaller than many large oil and gas players in the red this year.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) may no longer have Aubrey McClendon to kick around and blame for its woes, but it is the fourth biggest loser of the S&P. Its focus on natural gas just cannot escape the current oil and gas sector climate. With shares at $14.03, its market cap is now down to $9.3 billion. Chesapeake has a 52-week trading range of $13.38 to $29.92 and a consensus target price of $18.84.

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Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc. (NYSE: DO) is the fifth worst S&P 500 stock so far for 2015, with its share performance of -27.25%. Oil and gas, with more expensive offshore costs — what more needs to be said? They see the same oil and gas prices as the market. Trading at $26.62, it has a 52-week range of $26.02 to $55.37. The consensus analyst price target is $26.42.

Fossil Group Inc. (NASDAQ: FOSL) may have jewelry, handbags, small leather goods, belts, sunglasses, soft accessories and selected apparel, but its exposure to watches may make the company enemy number one for investors now that the smartwatch craze is coming. The real outcome remains to be seen, but investors have exited in droves, and Fossil now is the sixth biggest loser of the S&P 500. At $81.76, the stock is down by 26.17% year to date. Fossil has a $92.07 consensus price target and a 52-week range of $79.50 to $119.35.

Mattel Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT) may seem like a surprise loser here. After all, toys being a top loser? It turns out that Barbie has given up her luster, and the company is probably not a big fan of the success of Frozen and other franchises that have taken from its sales. With shares at $22.61, its performance is -25.92% year to date. Mattel has a 52-week range of $22.44 to $40.79 and a consensus price target of $25.94. Also, is Mattel’s 6.7% dividend yield sustainable at $1.52 per year? The consensus analyst earnings estimates are $1.55 per share for 2015 and $1.60 for 2016.

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National Oilwell Varco Inc. (NYSE: NOV) is on the very heavy equipment side of the oil and gas sector. It makes massive rigs and structures, and the rig count has been getting slashed for more than just the month of March. Trading at $49.25, this is the eighth worst S&P stock with performance of -24.16% year to date. It has a 52-week range of $46.08 to $86.55, yet it still has a $20 billion market cap. Its consensus price target is $55.10.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is the king of DRAM and has expanded with flash and other memory products. Still, its big turnaround days have passed by and now it has to be considered a value stock. Its shares now trade at $26.67, which makes its performance -23.8% so far — the ninth worst S&P 500 stock. Micron’s 52-week range is $21.02 to $36.58, and it has a consensus price target that still is all the way up at $41.47. Some bulls will need to temper expectations here it seems, but Micron does trade at less than eight times the consensus 2015 earnings estimates.

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) is the tenth biggest loser in the S&P 500 so far in 2015. The personal computing, printing and information technology services giant just cannot get its breakup to happen soon enough. With shares at $31.49, its performance this year is so far -21.1%. HP has a 52-week range of $31.03 to $41.10 and a consensus price target of $40.22. A recent dividend hike just does not matter to investors right now, and neither does a P/E ratio of less than 9.

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24/7 Wall St. would remind readers that investors have used every single pullback for the past three years as an opportunity to buy stocks. They may not buy the biggest losers, but they have used pullbacks as buying opportunities. One day that will not hold true. Until then, keep in mind that the Dow and S&P 500 have not had a formal 10% correction in quite some time.

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