Valeant, DryShips Plunge into Wednesday's 52-Week Low Club

April 5, 2017: Here are four stocks trading with relatively heavy volume among 80 equities making new 52-week lows in Wednesday’s session. On the NYSE, decliners led advancers by nearly 2 to 1 and on the Nasdaq decliners led advancers by more than 2 to 1.

DryShips Inc. (NASDAQ: DRYS) dropped about 17% Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $1.03 after closing at $1.24 on Tuesday. Volume was about 67% above the daily average of around 29.6 million. The company said Monday 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. Investors are not happy.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. (NYSE: VRX) dropped about 6.4% Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $9.52 after closing Tuesday at $10.17. The stock’s 52-week high is $38.50. Volume of about 35 million shares was nearly double the daily average of around 19 million. The company is reportedly having trouble selling one of its division for what it deems an acceptable price.

Novavax Inc. (NASDAQ: NVAX) dropped about 12% Wednesday to post a new 52-week low of $1.02 after closing at $1.16 on Tuesday. The stock’s 52-week high is $8.49. Volume was more than double the daily average of around 6 million shares. The company had no specific news.

L Brands Inc. (NYSE: LB) posted a new 52-week low of $43.09 on Wednesday, down about 1.6% compared with Tuesday’s closing price of $43.77. The stock’s 52-week high is $87.16. Volume was about 20% above the daily average of around 4.2 million shares. The company received a downgrade at Citigroup on Tuesday and is being included among those retailers that have too many stores.