Just looked back at 2024 performance and yeah, some stocks absolutely got wrecked. The worst performing stocks in the S&P 500 that year were brutal – Walgreens down 60%, Intel and Moderna both near 60%, Celanese down 55%, Dollar Tree at 48%. Meanwhile the index itself was up almost 30%, so these companies really underperformed.

The thing is, there's always a reason when stocks fall this hard. Moderna's struggling with weak COVID vaccine demand and no clear growth plan. Walgreens is losing customers to online shopping. Intel's dealing with competition and execution issues. These aren't just random market moves – something's actually broken at each of these companies.

Could they bounce back? Maybe, but it's not automatic. The worst performing stocks from 2024 didn't get cheap for no reason. Before considering any of them as a turnaround play, you'd really need to believe management can actually execute a recovery. Just catching a falling knife because the price looks attractive usually doesn't end well. Watch them if you want, but be selective about which turnarounds are actually worth the risk.