Although we don’t believe in timing the market or panicking over daily movements, we do like to keep an eye on market changes — just in case they’re material to our investing thesis.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published yesterday, post market close.
There was good reason for the S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) to fall today, as Wall Street grew more concerned about increasing tensions arising from Syria’s alleged use of chemical weapons on civilians last week. While the shift away from risky investments like stocks makes some sense intuitively in the short term, it has almost always been a losing position in the long run. Today’s worst-performing S&P stocks, unfortunately, were the victims of Mr. Market’s psychology of fear that ran rampant on the Street today. The S&P 500 shed 1.6%, or 26 points, ending at 1,630 Tuesday.
Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) appears to be another victim of illogical bearishness Tuesday. The stock, which lost 5.2% today, is already 50% more volatile than the broader market, and with the technology sector stumbling 2.2% today, the data storage company didn’t stand a chance. To be fair to the market’s mind-set for a moment, Western Digital’s results are pretty darn volatile in their own right — on an absolute basis, the company averages a 100% net change in yearly profits over the last four fiscal years. That’s not exactly a pillar of consistency.
Lastly Boston Scientific Corporation (NYSE:BSX) shed 5.2% today, as the $14 billion medical devices company took a big blow. Not surprisingly, the stock is also highly volatile, and unlike Western Digital Corp. (NASDAQ:WDC) Boston Scientific doesn’t pay any dividend. Zilch. That didn’t go over well with investors Tuesday, as money migrated to safer investments: companies, for instance, that haven’t lost over $1 billion in four of the past five years, like Boston Scientific has..
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The article Today’s 3 Worst Stocks originally appeared on Fool.com.
Fool contributor John Divine has no position in any stocks mentioned. You can follow him on Twitter, @divinebizkid, and on Motley Fool CAPS, @TMFDivine.The Motley Fool owns shares of Western Digital. 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.
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