Earlier today I reported on 10 of the top performing companies so far in 2017, with all of them up more than 60% compared to the S&P/ASX 200 (Index: ^AXJO) (ASX: XJO) rise of a 1.8%.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, these ten stocks have lost more than 30% of their value in just over two months. Here's a closer look.
| Company | Share Price | Market Cap ($m) | Price change |
| Martin Aircraft Company Ltd (ASX: MJP) | $0.15 | $59.5 | -51% |
| Ten Network Holdings Limited (ASX: TEN) | $0.54 | $196.3 | -43% |
| iSentia Group Ltd (ASX: ISD) | $1.63 | $326.0 | -42% |
| Compumedics Limited (ASX: CMP) | $0.51 | $90.4 | -41% |
| AJ Lucas Group Limited (ASX: AJL) | $0.23 | $89.8 | -45% |
| Sundance Energy Australia Ltd (ASX: SEA) | $0.14 | $168.7 | -39% |
| Bellamy's Australia Ltd (ASX: BAL) | $4.10 | $396.4 | -38% |
| Innate Immunotherapeutics Ltd (ASX: IIL) | $0.62 | $138.2 | -34% |
| Orocobre Limited (ASX: ORE) | $2.82 | $593.7 | -36% |
| CSG Limited (ASX: CSV) | $0.49 | $156.7 | -33% |
Source: Google Finance, S&P Global Markets Intelligence
We've covered the large falls in the share prices of iSentia, Bellamy's, CSG Limited and Orocobre recently, so this article will take a closer look at the rest.
Martin Aircraft Company – the personal jetpack developer – has extraordinary potential to roll out jetpacks to anyone who can afford one. The only problem is that it has yet to record much in the way of revenue – despite the hype. For shareholders, that's a major issue and the company remains highly speculative.
Broadcaster Ten Network faces structural issues in free-to-air broadcasting, and for some years I've said that Australia's advertising market can't support three broadcasters. Advertising is moving online, and the arrival of subscription video on demand (SVOD) services like Netflix and Stan are killing the free-to-air model. Ten's rivals appear much more likely to survive.
Compumedics develops and distributes medical devices used for monitoring sleep and other disorders, but reported an 88% fall in reported net profit for the six months to end of December 2017. The company still expects to report a net profit of between $2.5 and $5.5 million for the full year, but that was lower than the company had forecast in August 2016. It seems investors were expecting a better result.
Mining and energy services company AJ Lucas continues to disappoint shareholders with yet another loss as revenues crashed 9% for the first half of the 2017 financial year (FY17). This time it was a whopping $25 million loss on revenues of just $51 million. Making matters worse is that AJ Lucas says it needs to raise a significant amount of capital by early April, forcing shareholders to dip into their pockets again.
Sundance Energy disappointed investors with its fourth-quarter update and 2017 guidance at the beginning of February as we reported here. It seems oil and gas companies aren't benefitting much, despite Brent crude oil prices trading around US$55 a barrel since the start of this year.
Finally, Innate Immunotherapeutics has seen some wild trading in its share price, soaring as high as $1.83 on January 27, only to close at 78 cents the day after as we noted here. It's anyone's guess where the share price could be by the end of this year.
Foolish takeaway
Investors don't much like being disappointed by their companies, and bad news is usually reflected in a falling share price. If the company is highly speculative or unprofitable, the plunges can be much more drastic.
