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During the stock market’s March plunge, it may have been difficult for you to expect 2020 to end up as a good year for stocks, but incredibly low interest rates from the Federal Reserve, unprecedented federal spending to support the economy and investors enthusiasm for technology stocks did just that.
But while many stocks did well, 207 of the S&P’ 500 index’s SPX, -0.22% components are down for 2020. Further down you’ll find a list of the 20 worst-performing S&P stocks. While Wall Street analysts remain downbeat on some of them for 2021, they foresee a significant recovery for others — particularly in one industry.
Here’s how the 11 sectors of the S&P 500 have performed this year, as the benchmark has risen 15.6% through Dec. 28:
| S&P 500 sector | Price change – 2020 through Dec. 28 |
| Information Technology | 42.6% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 31.4% |
| Communication Services | 22.1% |
| Materials | 16.3% |
| Health Care | 9.7% |
| Industrials | 8.4% |
| Consumer Staples | 7.2% |
| Utilities | -4.7% |
| Financials | -5.4% |
| Real Estate | -6.0% |
| Energy | -37.4% |
| Source: FactSet | |
The coronavirus recession caused demand for oil to plummet, as the cruise industry has shut down and commercial air flights have plummeted. But production cuts have improved the balance between supply and demand. Here’s a chart showing continuous front-month futures quotes for West Texas crude oil this year:
FactSet
That’s a remarkable recovery; however, WTI is still 22% below where it was at the end of 2019. This explains why energy-sector companies make up more than half of this year’s list of the 20 worst-performing S&P 500 stocks through Dec. 28:
| Company | Ticker | Industry | Price change – 2020 |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. | OXY, -0.92% | Oil & Gas Production | -58% |
| Carnival Corp. | CCL, -1.29% | Hotels/Resorts/Cruiselines | -57% |
| Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. | NCLH, -0.55% | Hotels/Resorts/Cruiselines | -56% |
| TechnipFMC PLC | FTI, +1.06% | Oilfield Services/Equipment | -56% |
| Marathon Oil Corp. | MRO, -0.90% | Oil & Gas Production | -51% |
| HollyFrontier Corp. | HFC, +0.20% | Oil Refining/Marketing | -50% |
| United Airlines Holdings Inc. | UAL, -0.41% | Airlines | -50% |
| Oneok Inc. | OKE, -0.73% | Oil & Gas Pipelines | -49% |
| Diamondback Energy Inc. | FANG, -1.32% | Oil & Gas Production | -49% |
| Schlumberger NV | SLB, -0.88% | Oilfield Services/Equipment | -46% |
| National Oilwell Varco Inc. | NOV, -0.59% | Oilfield Services/Equipment | -46% |
| Royal Caribbean Group | RCL, -1.77% | Hotels/Resorts/Cruiselines | -45% |
| Apache Corp. | APA, -0.42% | Oil & Gas Production | -44% |
| Vornado Realty Trust | VNO, -2.68% | Real Estate Investment Trusts | -44% |
| Wells Fargo & Company | WFC, -0.50% | Major Banks | -44% |
| American Airlines Group Inc. | AAL, -1.25% | Airlines | -44% |
| Simon Property Group Inc. | SPG, -2.56% | Real Estate Investment Trusts | -43% |
| EOG Resources Inc. | EOG, -0.55% | Oil & Gas Production | -42% |
| Valero Energy Corp. | VLO, +0.65% | Oil Refining/Marketing | -41% |
| Devon Energy Corp. | DVN, -0.26% | Oil & Gas Production | -41% |
| Source: FactSet | |||
Scroll the table to see all the data.
You can click on the tickers for more about each company, including news coverage, charts, financial data and price ratios.
Here’s a summary of Wall Street analysts’ opinions about these stocks:
| Company | Ticker | Share ‘buy’ ratings | Share neutral ratings | Share ‘sell’ ratings | Closing price – Dec. 28 | Consensus price target | Implied 12-month upside potential |
| Occidental Petroleum Corp. | OXY, -0.92% | 17% | 66% | 17% | $17.40 | $16.73 | -4% |
| Carnival Corp. | CCL, -1.29% | 11% | 68% | 21% | $21.71 | $17.95 | -17% |
| Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. | NCLH, -0.55% | 35% | 59% | 6% | $25.53 | $22.46 | -12% |
| TechnipFMC PLC | FTI, +1.06% | 70% | 23% | 7% | $9.41 | $10.90 | 16% |
| Marathon Oil Corp. | MRO, -0.90% | 33% | 54% | 13% | $6.63 | $7.69 | 16% |
| HollyFrontier Corp. | HFC, +0.20% | 37% | 53% | 10% | $25.22 | $29.44 | 17% |
| United Airlines Holdings Inc. | UAL, -0.41% | 39% | 44% | 17% | $43.92 | $46.29 | 5% |
| Oneok Inc. | OKE, -0.73% | 32% | 56% | 12% | $38.41 | $37.30 | -3% |
| Diamondback Energy Inc. | FANG, -1.32% | 90% | 10% | 0% | $47.63 | $59.90 | 26% |
| Schlumberger NV | SLB, -0.88% | 70% | 27% | 3% | $21.57 | $24.84 | 15% |
| National Oilwell Varco Inc. | NOV, -0.59% | 44% | 40% | 16% | $13.56 | $13.42 | -1% |
| Royal Caribbean Group | RCL, -1.77% | 33% | 50% | 17% | $72.89 | $67.54 | -7% |
| Apache Corp. | APA, -0.42% | 39% | 58% | 3% | $14.21 | $16.00 | 13% |
| Vornado Realty Trust | VNO, -2.68% | 15% | 54% | 31% | $36.98 | $41.55 | 12% |
| Wells Fargo & Company | WFC, -0.50% | 48% | 48% | 4% | $29.93 | $33.89 | 13% |
| American Airlines Group Inc. | AAL, -1.25% | 18% | 27% | 55% | $16.06 | $11.36 | -29% |
| Simon Property Group Inc. | SPG, -2.56% | 35% | 65% | 0% | $85.48 | $92.00 | 8% |
| EOG Resources Inc. | EOG, -0.55% | 74% | 26% | 0% | $48.94 | $63.09 | 29% |
| Valero Energy Corp. | VLO, +0.65% | 91% | 4% | 5% | $55.09 | $64.11 | 16% |
| Devon Energy Corp. | DVN, -0.26% | 80% | 20% | 0% | $15.35 | $18.64 | 21% |
| Source: FactSet | |||||||
So six of these companies have majority “buy” ratings, with analysts expecting the shares to rise by double digits over the next year. All are involved in oil or natural gas production or refining.
As always, if you see any stocks of interests, it’s important to do your own research to form your own opinion about a company’s prospects.
For more about 2020, click here for a list of this year’s best-performing stocks in the U.S. and here for a list of big winners that aren’t yet included in the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq-100 NDX, +0.04% indexes.
Don’t miss:20 of analysts’ favorite large-cap stocks for 2021, including GM, Facebook and Salesforce
