Chris Hondros
The stock market had a pretty good run recently, with the market tacking on about 8 per cent in July and the S&P 500 and Dow fighting back into the black on the year (at least as of this writing). Favorable corporate earnings from some big name stocks helped lead the charge, and gave way to new optimism for many stocks.
But don't think this means that the market is going to be smooth sailing from here on out. The bottom line is that a number of companies are still struggling, after just posting poor earnings or issuing warning signs as they approach their earnings date or as investors digest unfortunate earnings reports.
To keep you out of the worst stocks, here are nine big-name blue-chips to sell now.
Bank of America
Sector: Diversified Financial Services
Market Cap: $142-billion
Dividend Yield: 0.3 per cent
YTD Performance: -6 per cent
Bank of America is a bank holding company, and a financial holding company well known to consumer and investors alike. Even though BAC has managed to stay ahead of the broader markets for most of 2010, sharp drops in shares in recent weeks have caused serious woes for investors. Recent trouble has been sparked by poor BAC earnings in mid-July, featuring lower profit and revenue for the quarter.
BP
Sector: Oil and Gas
Market Cap: $123-billion
Dividend Yield: 8.5 per cent
YTD Performance: -32 per cent
BP is one company that hardly needs an introduction, thanks to the recent media frenzy surrounding its disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. As can be expected from such a devastating event, shares for this once titan-of-industry have already fallen 32 per cent so far this year. Though the well is capped and reports place the amount of oil outstanding in the Gulf at only about a quarter of the initial spill, the specter of open liability as legislative backlash looms large.
Exxon Mobil
Sector: Oil and Gas
Market Cap: $294-billion
Dividend Yield: 2.8 per cent
YTD Performance: -8 per cent
Exxon Mobil is the largest oil and gas company in the world -- and in fact the largest corporation on Wall Street by market cap. Shares have been in a tailspin this year, faring much worse than the market, and Exxon has missed earnings estimates in three of the last five quarterly reports. Until crude oil demand ramps up and the economy gets going at full steam, XOM should continue to experience a headwind.
Goldman Sachs
Market Cap: $80-billion
Dividend Yield: 0.9 per cent
YTD Performance: -8 per cent
Goldman Sachs is a bank holding and a global investment banking, securities and investment management company. Combined with the controversies surrounding the company and its dealings is the fact that GS stock had its bottom fall out in April. The company's shares are down 13.3 per cent total since January, in part due to the threat of charges from the SEC (which have since been resolved for a cool $550 million) and also due to a whopping 60 per cent earnings miss in the company's latest report.
JPMorgan
Sector: Diversified Financial Services
Market Cap: $164-billion
Dividend Yield: 0.5 per cent
YTD Performance: -1 per cent
JPMorgan is a financial holding company with Chase Bank USA as the firm's credit card-issuing bank. JPMorgan is hoping to see its shares rebound because the company has underperformed the broader markets this year at with a slight decline, with most of the losses occurring recently. Since mid-April, JPM shares have lost 10 per cent -- twice the loss of the broader market in the same period.
Petrobras Petroleo Brasileiro
Sector: Oil and Gas
Market Cap: $170-billion
Dividend Yield: 0.4 per cent
YTD Performance: -19 per cent
Petroleo Brasileiro is an integrated oil and gas company that deals in oil and gas exploration, development and production in Brazil. This year has been unkind to PBR shareholders who have witnessed their investment drop significantly in value since the start of 2010.
Pfizer
Sector: Pharmaceuticals
Market Cap: $133-billion
Dividend Yield: 4.4 per cent
YTD Performance: -9 per cent
Pfizer is the research-based global biopharmaceutical company that has been a source of some despair from its shareholders in 2010. Investors must be cringing as they have had to endure almost 10 per cent in losses so far this year and charts continuing to trend downward -- especially considering looming patent expirations for some of the company's blockbuster drugs such as Viagra and Lipitor.
Telefonica
Sector: Diversified Telecommunications Services
Market Cap: $107-billion
Dividend Yield: 7.0 per cent
YTD Performance: -16 per cent
Telefonica together with its subsidiaries operates in the telecommunications, media and contact center industries. Like so many other blue chips, its profits and returns are both down from last year for TEF. So far in 2010, Telefonica has seemed like a runaway train -- posting -164 per cent in market activity year-to-date. Until debt trouble in the euro zone clears up, this Spanish-based company will continue to suffer a headwind.
Toyota Motor
Sector: Automobiles
Market Cap: $117-billion
Dividend Yield: 1.2 per cent
YTD Performance: -12 per cent
Toyota Motor is a Japan-based company mainly engaged in the automobile and financial business. With the company currently under investigation for possible defects in the steering rods of its vehicles, it seems like the hits keep on coming for TM and its shareholders. The automaker is reeling from -12 per cent returns this year despite just posting reasonably strong sales for July. The bottom line is that as long as consumer spending is weak, Toyota will suffer.
Louis Navellier does not own a position in any of the stocks named here. He the editor of four investing newsletters: Emerging Growth (formerly known as MPT Review), Blue Chip Growth, Quantum Growth and Global Growth. He is the author of a BusinessWeek bestseller, "The Little Book That Makes You Rich," and the chairman and founder of Navellier & Associates, Inc.