24 top stocks underperform Sensex

On the other hand, business groups like the Mahindras, Bajaj, the Tatas and Gujarat Ambuja have lost out. The main losers are two government companies. BHEL lost by 54 per cent to Rs 100 from Rs 219 and Hindustan Petroleum by 52 per cent to Rs 112 from Rs 236. Glaxo is the third largest loser with its stock losing 51 per cent to Rs 365 from Rs 750. It was followed by ITC (by 50 per cent to Rs 554 from Rs 1118), Tata Chemicals (by 41 per cent to Rs 41 from Rs 70), Bajaj Auto (by 41 per cent to Rs 338 from Rs 575), Indian Hotels (by 39 per cent to Rs 203 from Rs 338), Nestle (by 39 per cent to Rs 330 from Rs 546 and Tata Power (by 39 per cent to Rs 48 from Rs 79).

Surprisingly, not a single MNC stock has gained ground in the last one year. Hindustan Lever has lost by 1.49 per cent from Rs 2,285 to Rs 2,251. Larsen & Toubro (2 per cent), Mahindra & Mahindra (21 per cent), Ranbaxy (28 per cent), Colgate (33 per cent), ACC (34 per cent), Telco (35 per cent), Castrol (36 per cent), Tisco (16 per cent), Novartis (16 per cent), NIIT (10 per cent), IDBI (7.89 per cent), Gujarat Ambuja (2.50 per cent) and MTNL (2 per cent) are the other losers.

In fact, all the 30 Sensex shares had shot up during the January-February period. When the Sensex touched the 6,150 level on February 14, 2000, most of the Sensex stocks were at all-time high levels. However, since then Sensex has lost over 30 per cent and most of the shares in Sensex have under performed the index.

“This clearly shows that if investors had put money based on Sensex movement, they would have lost money. While it took over a year for Sensex to reach the 6150 level, the index virtually fell to the previous year’s levels in less than 10 weeks,” said an analyst, adding, “it’s easy to destroy value but it needs a lot of time and effort to create value.”