5 of Last Week's Biggest Losers

There's never a shortage of losers in the stock market. Let's take a closer look at five of this past week's biggest sinkers.

Source: Barron's.

Let's start with YRC Worldwide. The truck transporter shifted into reverse after its unionized workers rebuffed a new contract offer. It's a hairy situation, since YRC had agreed with its creditors to reduce its debt by $300 million if the union ratified the contract extension.

J.C. Penney shareholders hit the register after the struggling retailer announced that it was merely "pleased" with its holiday performance. The department-store operator did stick to its outlook calling for positive comps for the current quarter, but that still doesn't say much about its present state, given November's double-digit percentage gain.

Ambarella hit an all-time high on Tuesday, but then the pros started getting afraid of the heights. Needham downgraded the maker of system-on-a-chip video solutions on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank followed with a downgrade of its own two days later. Both analysts went from bullish "buy" ratings to neutral "hold" calls.

Merge Healthcare called in sick after the provider of software solutions for the health-care industry revised its subscription backlog lower. A former employee inflated the number of contracts. The move won't require restating prior financials, though naturally the near term won't be as rosy as originally announced, now that these bogus contracts won't be generating actual revenue.

Finally we have Molycorp taking a hit. Shares of the rare-earth materials specialist fell in each of the week's first four trading days. There was no Molycorp-specific news to trigger the apathy. Investors were merely taking profits after seeing the stock soar a week earlier, following a DA Davidson analyst upgrade.

Ready for a bounce
If you owned some of these losers, how about following the smart money into winners? For one, there's a brand-new company that's revolutionizing banking and is poised to kill the hated traditional bricks-and-mortar banking model. And amazingly, despite its rapid growth, this company is still flying under Wall Street's radar. For the name and details on this company, click here to access our new special free report.

The article 5 of Last Week's Biggest Losers originally appeared on Fool.com.

Motley Fool contributor Rick Munarriz owns shares of Ambarella. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of Ambarella. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Copyright © 1995 - 2014 The Motley Fool, LLC. All rights reserved. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.