Yesterday I looked at three ASX shares that had vastly outperformed the All Ordinaries (Index: ^AXAO) (ASX: XAO) in 2018 with gains of over 50%.
Today I thought I would look at the shares that had gone the other way. Three that have fallen more than 50% this year are listed below:
The Bionomics Ltd (ASX: BNO) share price has crashed 71.5% lower since the start of the year. Investors were hitting the sell button in a hurry at the end of September after the biotech company announced disappointing results from the phase 2 clinical trial of its BNC210 novel drug candidate in patients with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The trial did not meet its primary endpoint of a decrease in PTSD symptoms as measured by Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale at 12 weeks. As BNC210 had a lot of promise and was the main attraction to the company for most investors, this news has been a bitter blow.
The BWX Ltd (ASX: BWX) share price has dropped a massive 60% so far in 2018. The main catalyst for this decline was the withdrawal of a takeover approach from the Bain consortium. But in addition to this, the sudden slowing of sales of its key Sukin brand and the disappointing performance of its acquisitions has weighed heavily on its shares this year. While its shares do look reasonable value, I'm holding off an investment until I've seen a big improvement in its performance.
The Integrated Research Limited (ASX: IRI) share price has plunged 57% lower this year. The global provider of proactive experience management solutions for critical IT infrastructure, payments and communications ecosystems has been a consistently strong performer over the last decade. But all that came to an end this year after a surprisingly poor FY 2018 result. In addition to this, the surprise resignation of its CEO has weighed on investor sentiment. While I think that Integrated Research is a quality company, I feel it would be best to stay clear of its shares until there are signs that it has moved on from this difficult period.
