5 of Last Week's Biggest Losers

By Rick Aristotle Munarriz | More Articles
July 11, 2011 | Comments (1)

There's never a shortage of losers in the stock market.

Let's take a closer look at five of this past week's biggest sinkers.

Company	July 8	Weekly Loss	My Watchlist
Lumber Liquidators (NYSE: LL )	$18.60	(29%)	Add
Zion Oil & Gas (Nasdaq: ZN )	$4.35	(26%)	Add
Ixia (Nasdaq: XXIA )	$9.90	(22%)	Add
NetScout (Nasdaq: NTCT )	$16.78	(21%)	Add
Allied Irish Banks (NYSE: AIB )	$1.78	(16%)	Add

Source: Barron's.

Shares of Lumber Liquidators hit the wood chipper after the flooring retailer hosed down its guidance for the quarter that just ended and its outlook for the balance of the year. Weak customer demand is driving the seller of discounted hardwood into steeper markdowns.

Zion Oil & Gas slipped after disappointing news on an Israeli well that the company has already sunk $29 million into. The prospects for commercial oil production don't look good, although natural gas may be a possibility.

Ixia shareholders disconnected after the network equipment maker warned that it would come up short in its latest quarter. Ixia is now targeting revenue to clock in between $67 million and $69 million in its latest quarter, nearly flat with last year's $66 million showing and well below earlier estimates of $78 million to $82 million.

Website uptime monitor NetScout also warned that it would be coming up short when it reports its quarterly results next week. Summer's supposed to be a sleepy time for corporate America, but there are appear to be a lot of companies that didn't live up to expectations during the past three months.

Finally, we have Allied Irish Banks hitting a fresh multiyear low last week, as Ireland's financial crisis continues. Allied initiated a 1-for-5 reverse split earlier this year to help lift its share price out of the penny range, but it's trickling its way down to pocket change again.

It was a rough week for these five stocks. Let's see which ones bounce back this week.

Which of these five stocks do you think bottomed out last week? Share your thoughts in the comment box below.

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The Motley Fool owns shares of Lumber Liquidators. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Lumber Liquidators. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

Longtime Fool contributor Rick Munarriz enjoys cheering on winners and whispering words of encouragement to the losers. He does not own shares in any of the companies in this story. He is also part of the Rule Breakers newsletter research team, seeking out tomorrow's ultimate growth stocks a day early.

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Report this Comment On July 11, 2011, at 3:51 PM, BernieSr63 wrote:

What comes to mind is "PIGS". I inter-change Italy and Ireland for the "I" in PIGS. I also think most, except for, maybe, Germany, of the EU National Banks are pretty suseptible to being virally infected by the Mediteranean Malaise. If Germany tries to bail out all of the EU that will leave them totally over extended no matter how much "good will" they create in doing that good deed.
I own none of these stocks. I sold NBG ande AIB
3(?) years ago.

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