5 of Last Week's Biggest Losers

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.

Source: Barron's.

Shares of McMoRan Exploration revisited Davy Jones' locker after announcing another oil well delay. McMoran needs to unclog the flow of the Davy Jones No. 1 well with a solvent injection before testing it.

Frontline shares sank after the world's largest independent oil-tanker operator revealed that it will get smaller. Frontline posted a wider loss than analysts were expecting, warning that it may sell as many as 10 of its older vessels.

Grocery store operator SUPERVALU slipped after a Bloomberg report indicated that the buyout talks between the struggling supermarket chain and a private equity firm had stalled.

Allscripts Healthcare Solutions called in sick on reports that a deal to sell the health care IT provider may be far away.

Last week was a strong one for consumer-facing stocks, but Yum! Brands wasn't in on the fun. The company behind the Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell chains sputtered on Friday after providing an uninspiring forecast for 2013.

The outlook overall wasn't bad: Yum! is forecasting earnings per share to climb at least 10% next year. The problem for Yum! is that it now sees same-store sales growth at its Chinese locations slipping 4% during the quarter. Is China's economy slowing, or did Yum! simply expand so quickly in the world's most populous nation that new stores are cannibalizing older locations? Don't fret to come up with an answer, as both choices bode poorly for the company.

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