Investors Losing All Their Blue Chips

So called blue-chip stocks have struggled mightily over the last year.  The total loss in market cap from their 52-week highs for stocks in the S&P 100 (largest 100 S&P stocks by market cap) is now $2.5 trillion.  Below we highlight stocks in the index that are the furthest from their 52-week highs, as well as the loss in market cap from their 52-week highs.  As shown, General Motors (GM) is 75% from its 52-week high, Lehman (LEH) is 72.4%, and Wachovia (WB) is 71.7%. 

Looking at market cap, GM has lost $18 billion (it is now worth a little more than $6 billion), which ranks it 42nd in terms of losses.  General Electric (GE) has lost the most in market cap at -$168 billion.  Citigroup (C) isn't far behind GE at -$167 billion.  BAC, AIG and MSFT round out the top 5 in terms of market cap losses. 

Investors that have purchased blue-chip stocks expecting them to hold up well during the downturn are looking at their statements and only seeing red chips.

click to enlarge

Comments

[fatcat:]

Thats a scary chart for sure!!

2008 Jun 30 01:59 PM

[Larry House:]

Soooooooooooo!

2008 Jun 30 02:00 PM

[Archman Inv...:]

The article best illustrates a major problem with investing.

What is a blue chip? Some made up statement, concocted on Wall Street, as a way to convince people buying these stocks means you own the "best" and they are "stable" and do not go down as much as other "speculative" stocks do during hard times???

HA HA. The joke is on the average investor.

In my 15 years of investing I have never owned a "blue chip" stock.

Here is another of my favorite Wall Street terms: "Most widely held".

Another crock of shit term, that means nothing. It is another talking point Wall Street and the media use to reflect the overall market.

They are all useless. The goal should be to find stocks, of any size, that are making alot of revenue, have good net earnings, and have the ability to exponentially expand their market cap over long periods of time, with as few outstanding shares as possible.

2008 Jun 30 02:18 PM

[fatcat:]

Add to that Arch,managable debt and a dividend..

2008 Jun 30 02:43 PM

[Norman Lepo...:]

How about LMC in that case, Arch and fatcat?

2008 Jun 30 02:46 PM

[fatcat:]

Doc,revenues doubled on lmc,but operating losses skyrocketed...Why are you hot on this one?

2008 Jun 30 03:03 PM

[fatcat:]

Also,Doc,the options activity indicates to me that nothings going to happen til at least 2 months from now!

2008 Jun 30 03:06 PM

[Archman Inv...:]

LMC looks like a disaster as far as the technicals go.

I guess an argument could be made for a speculative buy.

They seem to rake in a lot of cash, yet their net is nothing to write home about. Mining companies tend to be that way.

It's definitely a spec play IMO.
Mad Money, like they say on TV. LOL

2008 Jun 30 04:41 PM

[fatcat:]

Arch,I've given up ,for now,on any long positions other than options.I guess I'm just tired of doing all the research and hand ringing,and for what?....it all ends up what crude does!

2008 Jun 30 05:55 PM