Seadrill, DryShips Plop Into Tuesday's 52-Week Low Club

April 4, 2017: Here are four stocks trading with relatively heavy volume among 79 equities making new 52-week lows in Tuesday’s session. On the NYSE, decliners led advancers by about 8 to 7 and on the Nasdaq decliners led advancers by about 3 to 2.

Seadrill Ltd. (NYSE: SDRL) dropped about 61% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $0.65 after closing at $1.67 on Monday. The stock’s 52-week high is $5.21. Volume was more than 5 times the daily average of around 14 million shares. The offshore drilling company warned this morning that it faces “substantial ” losses as bankruptcy proceedings loom.

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) dropped about 9.7% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $1.21 after closing at $1.34 on Monday. Volume was about 50% above the daily average of around 28.8 million. The company said yesterday that it has agreed to sell up to $226.4 million of its common stock to Kalani Investments Ltd. over a period of 24 months. The shipping firm also agreed to acquire six more ships at a total price of $268 million.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) dropped about 3.7% Tuesday to post a new 52-week low of $10.08 after closing Monday at $10.47. The stock’s 52-week high is $38.50. Volume of about 14 million shares was about 30% below the daily average of around 19 million. The company said on Monday that CEO Joseph Papa took home total compensation of nearly $63 million as the stock was losing 62% of its value. The numbers speak for themselves.

Rite Aid Corp. (NYSE: RAD) posted a new 52-week low of $4.15 on Tuesday, down about 1% compared with Monday’s closing price of $4.19. The stock’s 52-week high is $8.77. Volume was about 5% below the daily average of around 25.9 million shares. The company had no specific news.