The scariness of the markets hasn't disappeared with the passing of Halloween. After a breather and a small rally leading up to the election of President-elect Obama, markets resumed their gloomy ways with a two-day drop of 10%. Last week’s report of a 14-year high in the unemployment rate is unlikely to help, either.
On Halloween, we asked you, our Foolish readers, to go to CAPS and vote for the World's Scariest Stock by ranking them as "underperform." We had some pretty scary contenders, too.
The also-rans
Citigroup
You did vote for Sears Holdings, which clinched third place in our scariest stock contest. The buybacks at Sears don’t seem to be working for shareholders, much less helping any sort of turnaround. Then there was Yahoo!
The envelope, please
This year's winner of the title of World's Scariest Stock is a retailer. It sells a relatively expensive product, and despite a loyal customer base, it's been closing stores recently. This company's also facing stiff competition from the likes of McDonald's
As CAPS member amicidelbosco eloquently put it in making an underperform call last weekend:
This whale can only see further depths. Even Captain Ahab will find difficulty navigating this one. It's woes have been festering before our present global financial crisis. Meaning that weakness is more acute than the Mermaid can see.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the winner (or loser, depending on how you look at it) of the Fool's 2008 World's Scariest Stock Award: Starbucks