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.

Let's start with GTx (NASDAQ: GTXI). The risky biotech shed nearly two-thirds of its value after a failed late-stage drug trial for its once promising GTX-024.

GTx's lead candidate -- aiming to prevent the wasting away of muscle mass for lung cancer patients -- had been given fast-track designation to speed up the regulatory approval process, but that would have only mattered if GTX-024 was effective.

LightInTheBox -- The Chinese-based retailer of apparel, housewares, and other items that it can source inexpensively in China and ship worldwide-- was the New York Stock Exchange's biggest loser, shedding nearly half of its value after posting disheartening financials. Sales climbed 53%, but Wall Street was holding out for more in its first quarter as a public company. LightInTheBox is also eyeing a sequential decline in revenue, while Wall Street was holding out for improvement.

LightInTheBox is almost all the way back down to its June IPO price of $6.50 after moving nicely higher this summer.

Investors banking on DFC Global lost interest last week, after it reported disappointing quarterly results. The global provider of non-bank alternative financial services targets consumers who often don't qualify for traditional banking accounts through short-term consumer loans, secured pawn loans, check cashing, gold buying, and other means. 

Revenue of $269.1 million in its latest quarter was woefully short of expectations, and DFC is suspending some aspects of its guidance as regulatory uncertainties could challenge some of its product offerings.

The chapters don't get any easier to read at Barnes & Noble. The struggling bookseller fell after serving up another lousy quarter. The Nook business that was supposed to help transition the retailer into the future of digital media saw its revenue fall even more than its bricks-and-mortar business.

Yes, things are ugly at Barnes & Noble, and speculators hoping for an exit strategy may need a new approach. Chairman and founder Leonard Riggio revealed on Tuesday that he's no longer interested in taking the company's namesake retail chain private.

Finally we have B2Gold sliding. The gold producer with operations in Nicaragua and a recently acquired mine in the Philippines fell after the closing of a convertible note offering, even though it had been previously announced. B2Gold is getting an attractive interest rate of 3.25%, but the convertible nature of the debt -- through which the notes can be swapped for shares at an initial conversion rate of roughly $3.93 per share -- would be dilutive to current stakeholders.

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