U.S. and Canadian stocks hit multi-year lows on March 9, 2009, at the end of the financial crisis. Despite a few hiccups since then, including the current correction in major indexes, the recovery has been impressive: the S&P 500 has risen 78 per cent. But as Bespoke Investment Group notes, a surprisingly large number of stocks have ignored the rebound, and indeed have been carving out new lows.
These laggards are, by no means, insignificant names, either. After its sharp drop on Monday, Morgan Stanley entered the list of 23 names within the S&P 500 that are lower today (well, as of the close of trading on Monday) than they were on March 9, 2009. The bank is off 8.1 per cent.
Other stocks have slumped considerably more. Perhaps there's no surprise here, but Hewlett-Packard Co. has fallen 10.3 per cent lower. First Solar has fallen 22.6 per cent, home-builder Pulte Group has fallen 45.8 per cent and the booby prize goes to Dean Foods , which has fallen an astounding 54.6 per cent since 2009.
"Some have called the 3/9/09 low in the S&P 500 a 'generational bottom', but for the 23 S&P 500 stocks [in our list] the bottom has yet to be put in," Bespoke said on its blog.
David Berman