Now that investors are at the halfway point of 2017, it’s time to take a look back at what has been an exceptionally strong year for U.S. stocks so far. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY 0.09% is up 8.6 percent in the first half of the year, but not all stocks have been invited to the party.
5 Worst-Performing S&P 500 Stocks
Here’s a look at the five worst-performing S&P 500 stocks so far this year.
5. Diamond Offshore Drilling: -38.8 percent
The weakest sector of the market in 2017 has been the energy sector, as the recovery in the global oil market has hit a brick wall. Offshore drillers require some of the highest break-even crude prices of the entire oil industry, so offshore stocks like Diamond Offshore Drilling Inc DO 2.45% have been hit hard as WTI crude oil prices have dipped back below $45/bbl.
4. Southwestern Energy: -43.8 percent
Oil exposure will be the major theme of this list of worst investment ideas, but exploration and production stocks like Southwestern Energy Company SWN 3.03% have been particularly volatile. Oil investors are hoping that OPEC will step up with more aggressive production cuts and/or U.S. producers will dial back their production growth in the second half of the year.
3. Transocean: -44.1 percent
Transocean LTD RIG 2.74%’s struggles in 2017 are no mystery. Revenue has been cut in half in the past two years as the company struggles to survive the oil slump.
2. Fossil Group: -59.9 percent
Fossil Group Inc FOSL 1.2% is still one of the top brands in traditional watches. Unfortunately, the traditional watch business is in the middle of what most investors see as a secular decline. Fossil has a lot of ground to make up to compete with the leading brands in the smart-watch and wearable devices business, including Apple Inc. AAPL 0.05% and Fitbit Inc FIT 2.6%.
1. Frontier Communications: -65.6 percent
The worst investment idea in the entire S&P 500 so far in 2017 has been…
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