24/7 Wall St.

This past week was a rough one for the broad markets, with nearly a month having gone by without two positive back-to-back trading days in the S&P 500. Much of this can be attributed to the strengthening dollar, dropping oil prices, and the highly anticipated Federal Reserve rate hike. As a result, many shareholders have taken punishment in some form, but some have been absolutely obliterated.

24/7 Wall St. has tracked five companies in which shareholders were destroyed last week. Many of these companies have seen their markets caps drop sharply, and some have even drifted into a smaller cap market cap range now.

Threshold Pharmaceuticals

In Monday’s trading session, Threshold Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: THLD) watched its stock completely collapse after a joint late-stage study failed to yield positive results. These Phase 3 studies were being conducted under Threshold’s collaboration with Merck KGaA, in Darmstadt, Germany. Patients with locally advanced unresectable or metastatic soft tissue sarcoma treated with evofosfamide in combination with doxorubicin did not demonstrate a statistically significant improvement in overall survival compared with doxorubicin alone. Threshold will not be pursing further development of evofosfamide in soft tissue sarcoma and pancreatic cancer.

Shares of Threshold closed Friday at $0.51, with a consensus analyst price target of $7.00 and a 52-week trading range of $0.48 to $5.28. Over the course of the week, shares dropped over 80%, while shares are down roughly the same amount year to date.

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS) announced the pricing of an underwritten secondary offering, which includes common shares and warrants. The offering price came out to be $5.55 for one common share, together with a warrant to purchase 0.7 of a common share. The offering is valued up to $16.65 million, which consists of a total 3.0 million common shares and warrants to acquire 2.1 million common shares. This offering is expected to close on December 14, but it is still subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. This stock has been in a steady decline since late November.

Aeterna shares ended the week at $4.42, in a 52-week trading range of $3.19 to $89.00. The consensus analyst price target is $12.00. Over the course of the week, shares dropped nearly 50%, while shares are down about 95% since the beginning of the year.

Staples

This past week, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) sued to block the Staples Inc. (NASDAQ: SPLS) acquisition of Office Depot Inc. (NASDAQ: ODP). Just like a house of cards, shares of both companies crumbled under this weight. If shareholders are really bold, they might hold on and wait for Staples and Office Depot to contest the FTC lawsuit, but the future does not look bright for this pair.

Staples stock closed Friday at $9.50. It has a consensus price target of $15.46 and a 52-week range of $9.42 to $19.40. Last week, shares dropped to a 52-week low on Friday, or down nearly 20% on the week. Year to date, shares are down about 45%.

Office Depot closed at $5.71 on Friday. The consensus price target is $8.89, and the 52-week range is $5.24 to $9.77. The stock hit a 52-week low on Wednesday following the FTC release. At this point, shares were down 21% on the week, though they managed to gain just a little back by Friday. Year to date, shares are down 33%.

Men’s Wearhouse

After Men’s Wearhouse Inc. (NYSE: MW) reported its fiscal third-quarter financial results on Wednesday, shares got absolutely crushed by its earnings. It had $0.50 in earnings per share (EPS) on $865.45 million in revenue. That compared to consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters of $0.50 in EPS on $876.81 million in revenue. The company released preliminary earnings results in November that were catastrophic and proved to be a self-fulfilling prophecy in the earnings report.

Shares of Men’s Wearhouse ended Friday at $14.81, within a 52-week trading range of $13.55 to $66.18. The consensus analyst price target is $22.40. Shares sank to a 52-week low on Thursday, or down over 25% on the week, while year to date they are more than 65% lower.