These 20 stocks have been the S&P 500's biggest losers so far in 2024

By Emily Bary and Philip van Doorn

Other companies whose shares have taken a dive this year include Warner Bros. Discovery, Boeing, Paramount and Etsy

The S&P 500 is up nearly 16% so far this year with dividends reinvested. Artificial intelligence has been the big theme driving gains for Big Tech, especially Nvidia Corp. But 38% of the S&P 500 have had negative returns during the first half of 2024.

And one day can make quite a difference if a company doesn't perform as expected.

Shares of Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) fell 22% on Thursday, after the drug retailer reported quarterly results that missed analysts' estimates and announced various actions to streamline its business, including store closings.

Walgreens was already near the bottom of the pack before Thursday's stock slide, but the company's latest updates reinforced the pharmacy chain's big challenges: Reimbursement pressure in the prescription-drug business and sluggish consumer retail trends.

On a price-change basis, the stock is on track for its worst first half on record, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Related: Walgreens' junk bonds among biggest decliners in high-yield market after earnings disappoint

Here are this year's 20 worst performers among the S&P 500 SPX, with returns for the previous two years, to incorporate the broad decline in 2022 and recovery for the index in 2023:

   Company                                Ticker Industry                             2024 return%  2023 return  2022 return  Return since end of 2021 
   Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc.           WBA   Medical Distributors                       -52.1%         -25%         -25%                      -73% 
   Lululemon Athletica Inc.                LULU  Internet Retail                            -39.7%          60%         -18%                      -21% 
   Intel Corp.                             INTC  Semiconductors                             -38.7%          95%         -47%                      -36% 
   EPAM Systems Inc.                       EPAM  Information Technology Services            -37.7%          -9%         -51%                      -72% 
   Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. Series A    WBD   Movies/ Entertainment                      -35.4%          20%         -60%                      -69% 
   Albemarle Corp.                         ALB   Chemicals                                  -32.9%         -33%          -7%                      -58% 
   Globe Life Inc.                          GL   Multi-Line Insurance                       -32.2%           2%          30%                      -10% 
   MarketAxess Holdings Inc.               MKTX  Investment Banks/ Brokers                  -31.4%           6%         -32%                      -50% 
   Paycom Software Inc.                    PAYC  Software                                   -31.1%         -33%         -25%                      -66% 
   Boeing Co.                               BA   Aerospace & Defense                        -30.0%          37%          -5%                       -9% 
   Paramount Global Class B                PARA  Broadcasting                               -30.0%         -10%         -42%                      -64% 
   Etsy Inc.                               ETSY  Internet Retail                            -27.6%         -32%         -45%                      -73% 
   Dayforce Inc.                           DAY   Software                                   -26.0%           5%         -39%                      -52% 
   Dollar Tree Inc.                        DLTR  Discount Stores                            -25.9%           0%           1%                      -25% 
   Global Payments Inc.                    GPN   Miscellaneous Commercial Services          -25.0%          29%         -26%                      -28% 
   CVS Health Corp.                        CVS   Drugstore Chains                           -24.7%         -13%          -8%                      -39% 
   Charter Communications Inc. Class A     CHTR  Cable TV                                   -24.3%          15%         -48%                      -55% 
   Akamai Technologies Inc.                AKAM  Data Processing Services                   -24.0%          40%         -28%                      -23% 
   Estee Lauder Companies Inc. Class A      EL   Household/ Personal Care                   -23.5%         -40%         -32%                      -69% 
   Brown-Forman Corp. Class B              BF.B  Beverages: Alcoholic                       -23.4%         -12%          -9%                      -38% 
                                                                                                                                       Source: FactSet 

Click on the tickers for more about each company, including news coverage, financials, ratings and price ratios.

Click here for Tomi Kilgore's guide to the wealth of information available for free on the MarketWatch quote page.

Lululemon Athletica Inc.'s (LULU) has been the second-worst performer among the S&P 500 this year, falling 40% and weighed down by product missteps, inflationary spending pressures and competition from Alo Yoga and Vuori. Another challenge for the business is the rise of wide-leg jeans and other pants, which could be hurting demand for tight-fitting yoga pants. Lululemon shares are also tracking toward their worst first half in history, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

The chip-sector rally has left Intel Corp. (INTC) behind. While Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) has been one of this year's biggest gainers, Intel ranks as the third-worst performer in the U.S. benchmark index. Investors don't view the company's artificial-intelligence position so favorably, especially relative to rivals in the semiconductor space.

Earlier this year, Intel shed more light on the financials of its manufacturing business. The goal was to highlight better-performing product lines by breaking out the numbers. But the update also underscored the steep losses Intel faces as it tries to build out a foundry business that makes chips for others in the industry.

This year hasn't been kind to legacy media companies, as Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.'s (WBD) stock ranks as the fifth worst in the S&P 500 by its total return, while Paramount Global's (PARA) is the 11th worst. Both are debt-laden companies navigating pressures in traditional media while trying to improve the profit profiles of their streaming businesses. Shari Redstone's National Amusements, which controls Paramount with voting shares, has negotiated with potential buyers to no avail.

Read: Paramount's parent has reportedly ended merger talks with Skydance. What now?

Another interesting name on the list of biggest losers is Albemarle Corp. (ALB), ranking sixth-to-last in the S&P 500 for the first half and pacing toward its biggest first-half loss yet, according to Dow Jones Market Data. Shares have come under pressure from trends in the lithium market.

"Lithium prices have improved since the start of the year, but have not moved up enough to settle many of the longer term debates on the lithium market or [Albemarle's] stock," UBS analysts wrote earlier this month.

Sector breakdown

Here's a summary of how the sectors of the S&P 500 have performed so far this year, with returns for the previous two years. The full index is at the bottom, along with returns for the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, Nasdaq Composite Index COMP and the Nasdaq-100 Index NDX.

   Healthcare                      2024 return  2023 return  2022 return  Return since end of 2021 
   Information Technology                28.8%        57.8%       -28.2%                     46.0% 
   Communication Services                28.8%        55.8%       -39.9%                     20.6% 
   Utilities                             10.6%        -7.1%         1.6%                      4.4% 
   Energy                                10.5%        -1.3%        65.7%                     80.6% 
   Financials                             9.7%        12.1%       -10.5%                     10.1% 
   Consumer Staples                       9.4%         0.5%        -0.6%                      9.3% 
   Health Care                            7.9%         2.1%        -2.0%                      7.9% 
   Industrials                            7.6%        18.1%        -5.5%                     20.2% 
   Consumer Discretionary                 7.1%        42.4%       -37.0%                     -3.9% 
   Materials                              4.0%        12.5%       -12.3%                      2.7% 
   Real Estate                           -3.1%        12.4%       -26.1%                    -19.6% 
   S&P 500                               15.8%        26.3%       -18.1%                     19.7% 
   Dow Jones Industrial Average           4.9%        16.2%        -6.9%                     13.5% 
   Nasdaq Composite Index                19.4%        44.6%       -32.5%                     16.5% 
   Nasdaq-100 Index                      18.1%        55.1%       -32.4%                     23.9% 
                                                                                   Source: FactSet 

See also: Super Micro and Nvidia lead the S&P 500 this year. These stocks follow.

-Emily Bary -Philip van Doorn

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06-29-24 0609ET

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