Wednesday's Worst Stocks in the World

Bad days. We all have them; some of us deserve them. Here are five stocks whose naughty ways drew investors' scorn on Wednesday:

Sources: The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! Finance, Motley Fool CAPS.

Naughty?
Well, OK, we can't exactly call these stocks naughty. There are days when five-star winners and newsletter recommendations appear here. Not today, though.

But, if you're an investor, you'll have plenty of bad days. The trick is to avoid dating -- or, worse, marrying -- your losers. That's why I listen when our 93,000-person-strong Motley Fool CAPS community of stock pickers speaks with a poor rating or a negative pitch. You should, too.

Thus, here is today's list of the worst stocks in the world.

Worse
We begin with Delta Air Lines, which said it would re-inspect 133 of its MD-80 jets for wiring problems. The news came hours after American Airlines parent AMR copped to 200 flight cancellations because of questions from federal regulators about maintenance trouble with the very same type of aircraft.

Delta, for its part, told news agency Reuters that the inspections were voluntary but instituted after consulting with the Federal Aviation Administration. Some flights are to be canceled as a result, a spokesman told Reuters.

Any guesses as to which airline is up next? Delta merger partner Northwest, perhaps?

Worser
Next up is Clear Channel, which makes our list for the second day. The story just keeps getting worse. Sort of.

Late Wednesday, after a day marked by speculation that a long-planned $26 billion merger deal would fall apart, the broadcaster and its private equity benefactors, Bain Capital and Thomas H. Lee Partners, sued the banks that pledged to finance the deal when it was first announced, including Citigroup, Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), Credit Suisse, RBS, Wachovia (NYSE: WB), and Deutsche Bank.

But remember, I said "sort of." The news isn't all bad. Clear Channel executives made plain in a press release that they believe the banks are causing damages in excess of the $26 billion merger price, and would seek appropriate redress.

A $26 billion judgment? I'd love to believe that's possible. I don't. But a judge just ordered an injunction in Clear Channel's favor.

And yet the bad news remains. By suing, Clear Channel is tacitly admitting that it's no longer in the best interest of shareholders for the company to continue as an independent entity.

Chances are it won't, but an injunction doesn't fully remove the risk. Billions are at stake, and banks don't like losing money. If they choose to fight, it's Clear Channel's stock that will get bloodied.

Worst
But our winner is Warner Music Group, which suffered steep losses after news reports said it and other labels are negotiating details with MySpace for a music revenue-sharing platform.

Surely that sounds good, but I think my Foolish colleague, Rick Munarriz, has it right:

In the end, it's easy to see why MySpace is dreaming big. It's the labels that I worry about. They can't approach this deal as salvation for their fading ways. It may be a temporary stopgap, but striking revenue-sharing deals on a site populated by cash-strapped teens is like slapping moldy cheddar on top of twice-boiled macaroni.

Agreed. And let's remember why Warner has been a repeat offender in this column: It can't grow the once-lucrative business it already has.

Aging hipster Warner Music and its arthritic business model ... Wednesday's worst stock in the CAPS world.

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I'll be back tomorrow with more stock horror stories.