These 15 Stocks Destroyed the Most Shareholder Value Over the Past Decade

Earlier this year, I highlighted 15 stocks that have created the most shareholder value over the 10-year period from 2016 through 2025, focusing on market appreciation in dollars. This time, I conducted a similar exercise from the opposite point of view to identify stocks that eroded value instead of creating it. To find them, I started by sorting through Morningstar’s US equity database to find companies with the largest drops in market capitalization, which reflects the current stock price multiplied by total shares outstanding, over the same period. To get a more accurate picture of value destruction, I added back the total value of dividends paid and stock spinoffs, which partially offset the market-cap declines.

The Results

The graph below shows the 15 stocks that have destroyed the most value for shareholders based on these metrics.

As a group, the value destroyers wiped out an estimated $217.2 billion in shareholder wealth over the past 10 years. That’s a big number, but far less than the estimated $27.0 trillion in wealth created by the top 15 stocks on the positive side. This reflects a few different factors. First, companies with outstanding financial results and share-price performance can continue to outshine their competitors over many years. While it’s impossible to lose more than 100% of your initial investment in a stock (unless you’re wading into risky territory like derivatives and leverage), winning stocks can have upside potential well in excess of their initial value. Second, the odds of experiencing a loss in any individual stock are relatively high, but value destruction can be somewhat limited if a stock never reached a large market cap to begin with.

While the companies on the list span a wide range of industries, sectors, and underlying problems, many of them have a common thread: a lack of economic moat, or durable competitive advantage. Eleven of the companies on the list have Morningstar Economic Moat Ratings of none, and another four—Biogen BIIB, Illumina ILMN, Kraft Heinz KHC, and SLB SLB—have narrow moat ratings. Moats were much more prevalent on my list of wealth creators, with 12 of the 15 garnering wide economic moat ratings based on our analysts’ assessments.

Another common factor: deteriorating fundamentals. As shown in the table above, several of the value destroyers suffered declining revenue, operating income, and/or free cash flow over the past 10 years. Investors responded to these worsening metrics by bidding down the stock prices.

What Went Wrong?

It’s tough to generalize about what led to these companies’ falloffs. Just as there are many different paths to greatness, there are many paths to value destruction. But in digging into these companies’ travails, a few issues surfaced more than once.

• Acquisitions that failed to create shareholder value. Kraft Heinz tops the list with an estimated $36.1 billion in shareholder value destruction over the past decade. It took a $15 billion-plus goodwill impairment charge for the Heinz acquisition, and performance also suffered because of a stagnant product portfolio and slowing organic growth. Similarly, American Airlines AAL merged with US Airways in 2013 but struggled to integrate operations for the two airlines. SLB (formerly Schlumberger) took a massive write-off of $13 billion in 2019 to account for the decline in its acquired operations in the American pressure-pumping business. Perrigo Company PRGO, Illumina, and VF Corp VFC also made major acquisitions that failed to generate as many benefits as originally anticipated.
• Failure to keep up with changes in consumer preferences. QVC Group QVC, for example, has watched its net income shrink as television audiences have declined and shoppers have made more and more purchases online. Sirius XM Holdings SIRI also suffered as listeners abandoned subscriptions in favor of music streaming and podcasts. Under Armour UA failed to keep up with trends in mainstream apparel, such as the growth in athleisure wear, which blends athletic functionality with comfort and fashion.
• Challenging external factors. As a leading oilfield-services company, SLB is heavily dependent on energy prices. The oil price collapse between 2014 and 2016 took a heavy toll on its revenue and profitability. Like other airlines and travel-related companies, American Airlines struggled amid the covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
• Lack of success in developing new products. Once a biotech darling, Biogen has suffered several setbacks in product development. It was counting on a new Alzheimer’s disease medication to replace falling revenue from multiple sclerosis drugs, but progress on the drug stalled out at various points. After numerous controversies and setbacks with Medicare coverage, Biogen announced in January 2024 that it would discontinue clinical trials.

Looking Ahead

Shareholders in these 15 companies have suffered greatly over the past 10 years. But as I pointed out in my previous article, what really matters for investors considering a new purchase is a company’s future prospects and whether the current stock price offers a margin of safety.

On that front, the wealth destroyers look more promising. Although American Airlines, Bread Financial Holdings BFH, and Illumina are currently trading at a premium to our fair value estimates, four of the 15 have Morningstar Ratings of 3 stars, indicating that they’re neither significantly undervalued nor overvalued based on our analysts’ assessments. Advance Auto Parts AAP, Perrigo, and Under Armour are currently trading at modest discounts to our estimates of their value, earning them 4-star ratings. Bath & Body Works BBWI, Kraft Heinz, VF, and Vornado Realty Trust VNO are trading at more significant discounts and earned 5-star ratings as of this writing.