The stock market is certainly looking a lot better heading into year’s end, thanks to a big rally during November. The benchmark S&P 500 gained 5% in the month and is now up 20% as we head towards New Year’s Eve.
However, while a lot of stocks are benefitting from the current upsurge, many are still lagging the market’s performance by a big margin. Some stocks are tanking right now due to poor execution, big earnings misses, and mounting losses. A lot of these stocks have become extremely unstable. In fact, they’ve slid down into the penny stock league tables.
So, investors should avoid these unstable securities at all costs. Any shareholders still holding on should cut their losses sooner rather than later. Let’s examine the three seriously unstable stocks to sell before 2024.
Canopy Growth (CGC)
A few weeks ago, Canopy Growth (NASDAQ:CGC) reported a net loss for its fiscal second quarter of $324.8 million. This latest loss was greater than the $305 million the company lost a year earlier.
The cannabis producer said its net loss from continuing operations totaled $148.2 million. Also, its quarterly revenue totaled only $82 million, down 18% from $100 million a year ago. Company executives said they continue to focus solely on reducing costs.
In a sense, the writing is on the wall. Earlier this autumn, Canopy Growth obtained creditor protection for its BioSteel Sports Nutrition unit with plans to eventually sell that business. Also, the company announced plans to sell its headquarters building back to the original owner, chocolate maker Hershey Co. (NYSE:HSY). CGC stock has been a basket case this year, plunging 85% in the last 12 months. Trading at 62 cents, the stock is down 98% over the last five years.
Fisker (FSR)
Equally bad has been the performance of electric vehicle start-up Fisker (NYSE:FSR), whose shares fell 13% after its latest earnings print and on weak delivery numbers. FSR stock is now down 77% in the past 12 months. Additionally, it’s fallen 82% since the company went public in 2020.
Fisker reported that it built 4,725 of its electric SUVs in Q3 but delivered only 1,097 to customers. The company has said it aims to deliver 300 SUVs a day by year’s end. Yet, it’s not clear if it’s on track to meet that goal.
For Q3, Fisker reported a net loss of $91 million, or 27 cents a share. That’s much worse than the 19 cent loss that was expected on Wall Street. Revenue for the latest quarter came in at $71.8 million. Analysts had expected revenue of $109 million. Fisker reported that it had $625 million in cash on hand as of Sept. 30. Management refused to provide any forward guidance. In recent weeks, Fisker’s chief technology officer (CTO) and its chief accounting officer both left the company. Shareholders should follow them to the exit.
Cisco Systems (CSCO)
Shares of Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) cratered 11% after the networking hardware company issued weak forward guidance in its latest financial results.
Shareholders have missed this year’s rally entirely as CSCO stock is down 2% over the last 12 months. Through five years, the share price has gained a paltry 4%. To be fair, Cisco’s third-quarter results were better-than-expected. Earnings per share (EPS) landed at $1.11 and revenue at $14.67 billion. Both numbers topped Wall Street forecasts.
Unfortunately, the company reported that its new product orders slowed during the quarter, flashing a red flag to analysts and investors. Specifically, Cisco estimates that one or two quarters of its shipped products are still waiting to be implemented, leading to its reduced orders. As a result, Cisco forecast 82 cents to 84 cents in earnings per share on $12.6 billion to $12.8 billion in revenue for the current quarter. Both those numbers were below Wall Street estimates. Also, Cisco is in the process of acquiring data analytics software maker Splunk (NASDAQ:SPLK) for $28 billion, which could cause near-term headwinds.
On the date of publication, Joel Baglole held a long position in HSY. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.