After a strong 2020, so-called stay-at-home stocks clearly struggled through 2021's gradual reopening of the world's economies.
Though new Covid variants may cause yet another reversal of the trend, many of the Nasdaq-100's worst-performing stocks are major names from the stay-at-home technology universe, a group meant to sustain a workforce reluctant or unable to return to the office or that entertained locked-down families via video games, movies and other activities.
Chinese technology stocks also clearly suffered--many were delisted from U.S. exchanges and faced regulatory uncertainty at home.
Here, in descending order, are the 10 worst performing Nasdaq stocks as of December 21.
10. JD.com -16.4%
A Chinese e-commerce provider (also known as Jingdong) JD stock fell from $87.90 at the beginning of the year to $73.52 on December 21.
9. PayPal -19.8%
Online payments stalwart PYPL dropped from $234.20 to $187.74.
8. MercadoLibre -27.0%
Argentinian e-commerce megacap MELI saw its price fall from $1675.22 to $1223.00.
7. DocuSign -30.5%
While DOCU became ubiquitous in many financial advisors' workflows, its stock dropped from $222.30 to $154.46.
6. Activision Blizzard -31.7%
ATVI, whose video game franchises include Warcraft, Diablo and Starcraft, fell from $92.85 to $63.44.
5. Baidu -33.2%
BIDU, a Chinese artificial intelligence giant, saw its stock price fall from $216.24 to $144.40.
4. Splunk -33.4%
SPLK, which offers automated data analytics, dropped from $169.89 to $113.10.
3. Zoom Video -41.1%
Investors also suffered from Zoom fatigue in 2021, sending ZM plummeting from $337.32 to $198.70.
2. PinDuoDuo -66.5%
PDD, a Chinese agriculture-focused e-commerce platform, fell from $177.68 to $59.46.
1. Peloton -74.2%
PTON, offering connected home workout equipment, saw its stock open 2021 at $151.72 and then decline to $39.13 over the course of the year.
