names of stocks that tanked in 2003?

Answer 1

Let's see: HRH dropped some 20 percent that year; I hear LVLT got better only by doing a reverse stock split; the news is hard to come by because most was centered on the unexpected boom in the markets. One of my search came upon little Extreme Networks (EXTR) who lost money that year but the stock rose nonetheless. Gateway (GTW) was financially tanking but rose, dipping late but still finishing higher. Perpetual loser Unisys (UIS) began a big slide late in 2003 but if you bought in January and sold in December you still made good money from it.

Tenet Healthcare (THC) was so largely flat, though really down, that it almost doesn't count for a decline. Likewise, the New York Times (NYT) began its slide at the end of the year, but was mostly flat for the year.

Using the Businessweek site S&P scorecard and looking for 3-yr losers, then checking the chart for the previous 5 years, I'm finding a monotonous pattern, those that average poorly in earnings for the last three years, earned that notoriety AFTER 2003. There were several reports, though, that say that low-ranked stocks often performed better than higher-ranked stocks.

Frankly, I thought I was a genius that year and everyone else thought I was an idiot in the years after. Good question!