The 5 worst performing stocks on the S&P 500 in 2024

Thursday, 2 January 2025

The 5 worst performing stocks on the S&P 500 in 2024

by BD Banks

While the stock market enjoyed a banner year in 2024, some stocks fared badly.

The reasons for their struggles vary. The business’s structure didn’t work, a turnaround plan faltered, the market dried up, and global sales fell.

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And, of course, investors lost confidence and could make far greater returns elsewhere, like Palantir Technologies (PLTR) , 2024’s top S&P 500 performer.

In fact, some 98 Standard & Poor’s 500 stocks suffered double-digit declines in a year when the index was up more than 23% on top of a 24% gain in 2023.

Here are the five worst S&P 500 performers

Walgreens Boots Alliance: A global health care strategy didn’t work (Down 64%)

Walgreens Boots Alliance (WBA) was cobbled together with a giant U.S. pharmacy chain and a British counterpart. The goal was to be a one-stop place for basic health care needs.

The strategy didn’t work.

There were way too many stores, not enough customers and intense competition from other pharmacy chains, plus the likes of Walmart (WMT) , Target (TGT) , Kroger (KR) , Albertsons (ACI) and Costco Wholesale (COST) .

Walgreens Boots was removed from the Dow Jones Industrial Average in February, replaced by Amazon.com (AMZN) . Now, Walgreens is working on a plan to go private.

A Walgreens Pharmacy and store closing sign in New York City. Walgreens was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 in 2024.

UCG/Getty Images

Intel: A legendary tech company overwhelmed by change (Down 60%)

Intel (INTC) once was among the most admired and feared chip makers, especially when the legendary Andy Grove was CEO.

Intel chips powered nearly all personal computers using the Microsoft (MSFT) Windows operating system for years. However, competition increased, starting with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) offering processors similar to Intel’s.

And then the business changed. PC sales flattened. The Internet and cloud computing erupted, and now artificial intelligence. Its strategy of designing and building chips was supplanted by companies like Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) , which makes chips to customers’ specifications. Former CEO Pat Gelsinger’s dream of building foundries in the United States has stalled.

Moderna: A hero of the fight against Covid-19 sees its market shrink (Down 58%)

Moderna (MRNA) was the spunky pharmaceutical company that came up with a viable vaccine to protect millions against getting Covid-19.

More stocks’ performance in 2024

The shares soared more than 2000% during the pandemic as people rushed to get shots and then boosters. But the pandemic eased, and, worse, more and more patients stopped getting shots.

The problem then became what would be the company’s next big thing. So far, the answer is unclear, and many investors have given up waiting.

Celanese: Global weakness shrinks markets for paints and coatings (Down 55%)

Celanese (CE) is one of the big players in paints, coatings, and the like.

Many of the company’s products depend on stable construction, industrial, and auto markets. The economic slowdown caused, first, by the Covid-19 pandemic and then the Federal Reserve’s campaign to bring inflation down hit many of its markets, and demand tumbled.

The company has slashed its dividend, idled production facilities, and cut costs while it waits for its customers’ businesses to revive.

Estee Lauder: A cosmetics and beauty giant sees big demand headwinds (Down 49%)

Estee Lauder is a legendary cosmetics company.

The original Estee Lauder was a wildly successful self-made entrepreneur. She was the only woman on Time magazine’s 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century.

Nowadays, her company competes globally, and the demand picture is weak, especially in China, one of Lauder’s key markets.

Earnings are down 64% from levels it reported in 2022. Analysts project sales in fiscal 2025 will be around $15 billion, down 4% from a year ago.