Still don't think the S&P 500's sell-off is that bad? Maybe you're not seeing all the major stocks down 70% or more from their highs.
More than 30 stocks in the S&P 1500 index, including several S&P 500 giants, like SelectQuote, PayPal Holdings and Moderna, are down more than 70% from their highest points in 52 weeks, says an Investor's Business Daily analysis of data from S&P Global Market Intelligence and MarketSmith.
Such brutal beatdowns reveal why this sell-off feels worse than broad market indexes indicate. The SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF is down "only" 18.9% from its closing high notched on Jan. 4, 2022. A 10% correction stings and a 20% bear market hurts. But when you're down 70% or more on a major stock, that's serious pain. Investors holding onto these stocks still are suffering.
"The only goal now, for investors and traders alike, is to make it to the turn in asset prices whenever that is with the least amount of incremental damage to portfolios," said Nicholas Colas of DataTrek Research. A little bit of traders' discipline can help.
Looking At The Pain
Smaller companies are taking the brunt of this sell-off. But they're not alone as big players in the S&P 500 are plunging, too.
The Vanguard Small-Cap ETF is now down 25% from its high last November. That's much worse than the S&P 500's drop but it's better than the 34% plunge in the worst sector: communication services.
Case in point? SelectQuote. It's a small $400-million-in-market-value marketer of insurance policies. But more importantly to investors, SelectQuote is a disaster stock. Shares are down more than 89% from their 52-week high set on May 6, 2021. That makes it the hardest hit of any stock in the S&P 500. But it's also a perfect example of the kinds of stocks investors want nothing to do with in this market. The company lost $133 million in 2021 and is expected to lose another $148 million this year. Small money-losing companies? No thanks, investors are saying.
Speculative small health care companies dominate the ranks of the stocks dropping the most. More than half the biggest drops in the S&P 1500 are health care companies. Joint, for instance, is a $400 million operator of chiropractic clinics. But the stock is a real back-breaker too, falling more than 85% from its 52-week high set on Sept. 7, 2021. The company isn't losing money, but profit is seen falling 39% this year after dropping 47% last year.
It's not just small companies, though, suffering in this market.
Big Cap, Big Pain In S&P 500
It's hard to believe it, but shares of the health care giant that helped the U.S. crawl out of the throes of the pandemic are also cratering. And it's just one S&P 500 stock that's imploding.
Shares of Moderna are down an astounding 74% from their 52-week closing high on Aug. 10, 2020. It's quite the comeuppance for what had been one of the very best stocks to own during the pandemic. The company is profitable. But profits are falling fast. Analysts think Moderna will only make $27.59 a share in 2022, down 2.5% from 2021. And in 2023, profit is seen dropping by more than 67%.
But Moderna is not the only catastrophe in the S&P 500. Video streamer Netflix is now down more than 76% from its 52-week high on Nov. 17, and off 70% just this year. That's a brutal destruction of value. Even if Netflix's stock gains by a better-than-average 15% annually, it would take a decade just to return to the highs.
Things aren't looking much better at S&P 500 member PayPal. The online payments company's shares are down a bruising 76% from their high on July 26, 2021. Don't expect to get much lift from fundamentals, either. Analysts think the company's profit will drop nearly 15% this year.
So now you'll know why there are so many long faces, even though the S&P 500 is "only" down 17%.
Biggest S&P 1500 Stock Drops
They're all down 70%, or more, from their 52-week highs
| Company | Symbol | Index | Stock % ch. from high | Sector | 52-week high date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SelectQuote | S&P 600 | -89.6% | Financials | 5/12/2021 | |
| Loyalty Ventures | S&P 600 | -89.6 | Communication Services | 11/4/2021 | |
| NeoGenomics | S&P 600 | -85.3 | Health Care | 10/1/2021 | |
| Joint | S&P 600 | -84.6 | Health Care | 9/7/2021 | |
| eHealth | S&P 600 | -84.2 | Financials | 5/20/2021 | |
| Endo International | S&P 600 | -84.1 | Health Care | 11/11/2021 | |
| BioLife Solutions | S&P 600 | -81.9 | Health Care | 9/1/2021 | |
| WW International | S&P 600 | -81.5 | Consumer Discretionary | 6/8/2021 | |
| Diebold Nixdorf | S&P 600 | -81.3 | Information Technology | 6/9/2021 | |
| Nektar Therapeutics | S&P 600 | -81.2 | Health Care | 5/12/2021 | |
| Tactile Systems Technology | S&P 600 | -80.9 | Health Care | 6/25/2021 | |
| Kyndryl Holdings | S&P 400 | -79.8 | Information Technology | 10/22/2021 | |
| Cerence | S&P 600 | -79.2 | Information Technology | 7/2/2021 | |
| Bed Bath & Beyond | S&P 600 | -78.2 | Consumer Discretionary | 6/2/2021 | |
| Red Robin Gourmet Burgers | S&P 600 | -77.0 | Consumer Discretionary | 5/26/2021 | |
| OptimizeRx | S&P 600 | -76.7 | Health Care | 10/29/2021 | |
| 3D Systems | S&P 600 | -76.6 | Information Technology | 6/25/2021 | |
| PayPal Holdings | S&P 500 | -76.3 | Information Technology | 7/26/2021 | |
| Tupperware Brands | S&P 600 | -76.2 | Consumer Discretionary | 5/18/2021 | |
| LivePerson | S&P 600 | -76.1 | Information Technology | 9/17/2021 | |
| Apollo Medical | S&P 600 | -76.0 | Health Care | 11/15/2021 | |
| Netflix | S&P 500 | -75.6 | Communication Services | 11/17/2021 | |
| Digital Turbine | S&P 400 | -74.7 | Information Technology | 11/1/2021 | |
| GameStop | S&P 400 | -74.3 | Consumer Discretionary | 6/8/2021 | |
| Moderna | S&P 500 | -74.1 | Health Care | 8/10/2021 | |
| 8x8 | S&P 600 | -73.0 | Information Technology | 6/28/2021 | |
| Etsy | S&P 500 | -72.0 | Consumer Discretionary | 11/26/2021 | |
| LendingTree | S&P 600 | -71.2 | Financials | 6/25/2021 | |
| Inogen | S&P 600 | -71.0 | Health Care | 8/4/2021 | |
| Sunrun | S&P 400 | -70.1 | Industrials | 11/8/2021 | |
| Boston Beer | S&P 400 | -70.0 | Consumer Staples | 5/27/2021 |
