5 Stocks That Struggled This Year (CSCO, JNJ, WMT, BAC, HPQ)

This is really a "Dogs of the Dow" column, as Cisco CSCO, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, Bank of America BAC, Wal-Mart WMT, and Hewlett-Packard HPQ are all in the Dow and have done nothing this year, or lost significant value. Cisco was hit hard this year after it forecasted a weak quarter primarily due to public sector spending for its products. Cisco also blamed cloud computing for its losses, particularly F5 Networks FFIV which is taking a lot of its business away from Cisco. One bright spot is that company boasts a pristine balance sheet, and has some $30 billion in cash with no debt on the books. Shares of Cisco are down 15% so far this year. Johnson & Johnson saw plenty of problems with product recalls, mostly related to Tylenol over concerns of odors coming out of the bottles. One bright spot is Warren Buffett continues to be a big believer in the name, having added to his position this year. Shares of Johnson & Johnson lost 3.66% so far this year. Bank of America continues to be hit hard over the head on multiple fronts. From mortgage put back securities, to WikiLeaks drama to just general disdain for bank stocks, it was certainly a year to forget for Brian Moynihan and crew. One bright spot is bank stocks have been performing extremely well over the past couple of weeks, leading some to speculate that maybe the worst is over in the sector and 2011 will be a strong year. Shares of Bank of America have lost 11.42% so far this year. Wal-Mart has had a rough year, as the American consumer is starting to open up their purse strings, and aren't trading down as much. Target TGT is eating its lunch on the low end. One bright spot is the company's investment in 360.com, which is China's version of Amazon. DangDang DANG is supposed to be China's Amazon AMZN, but Chinese experts believe 360.com is the real deal here. Shares of Wal-Mart gained 0.5% this year. Hewlett-Packard has had an embattled year, as its former CEO Mark Hurd, resigned over a sex scandal, then went to Oracle ORCL, who is eating HP's lunch. Analysts fear it overpayed for a couple of cloud computing companies as well this year. One bright spot is it's moving more into software, which has higher margins than hardware, and that should boost earnings in the years to come. Shares of HP lost 17.98% this year.