5 of Last Week's Biggest Losers

Updated
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.

Company

Jan. 17

Weekly Loss

Nu Skin Enterprises

$79.47

42%

Best Buy

$24.43

36%

SodaStream

$38.15

24%

Zynga

$3.55

14%

J.C. Penney

$6.52

11%

Source: Barron's.

Let's start with Nu Skin Enterprises. The multilevel marketer of skin products turned ugly after the Chinese government announced that it will look into reports claiming that Nu Skin is an illegal pyramid scheme. The company defended its model, but investors don't like uncertainty.


Best Buy became a better sell for investors who bailed on the consumer-electronics superstore chain before it warned that comps were negative during the holiday shopping season. Best Buy's been discounting aggressively to combat the showrooming trend, so margins were always going to be a challenge. However, now that sales are also sliding, it's giving one of last year's best-performing stocks a rude awakening in 2014.

SodaStream also warned of an unquenched holiday quarter. The company behind the namesake maker of carbonated beverages is still growing its revenue at a healthy 26% clip for the quarter, but now it's expected to barely break even.

Zynga was a losing game after an analyst published negative comments about the casual- and social-gaming giant. Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia feels that bookings are coming in too soft to meet its earlier guidance. He also sees it losing more than the $0.04-a-share deficit that Wall Street is targeting.

J.C. Penney shareholders have now suffered back-to-back weeks of double-digit percentage declines. A week earlier it was an uninspiring report in which the company was merely "pleased" with its holiday performance. This past week the chain announced it will close 33 of its stores. The closures, along with some layoffs, will help it realize $65 million in annualized savings, but investors are more concerned about the chain's fade from relevance.

Ready for a bounce
If you owned some of these losers, how about following the smart money into winners? It's no secret that investors tend to be impatient with the market, but the best investment strategy is to buy shares in solid businesses and keep them for the long term. In the special free report, "3 Stocks That Will Help You Retire Rich," The Motley Fool shares investment ideas and strategies that could help you build wealth for years to come. Click here to grab your free copy today.

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

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz owns shares of SodaStream. The Motley Fool recommends and owns shares of SodaStream. 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.

Advertisement