Four years after COVID-19 lockdowns began, these household-name stocks still haven't recovered

By Bill Peters

Delta, Boeing and Hasbro are among the postpandemic laggards

This Saturday, March 23, will mark four years since the major indexes bottomed out as pandemic lockdowns pressed pause on the global economy and raised fears of a prolonged crash.

What played out afterward was far different from the initial projections - an unhinged 2021 and a 2022 that, marked by snarled supply chains, caused a spike in prices for food and essentials, which have largely remained elevated ever since. But, even as the broader market recovered, the share prices of dozens of companies, including some very well-known ones, are still below where they were in early 2020 - for any number of reasons.

They include shares of companies that were hardest hit by pandemic restrictions, like Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) and United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL), which, respectively, remain 26.9% and 48.7% off their highest closing levels in the first quarter of 2020. But since then, despite a surge in what came to be known as revenge travel, the airline industry has faced other issues, including volatile fuel prices, limited aircraft availability, understaffing and other disruptions to travel.

Boeing Co. (BA), which makes many of the planes those airlines fly, has had different problems. Shares of Boeing are 45.7% lower than their first-quarter 2020 high, after a midair door-panel blowout on a 737 Max plane in January led to deep scrutiny of the company's production standards.

Toy demand got a bump during the pandemic but slowed as the economy reopened and the ensuing inflation steered spending elsewhere. Hasbro Inc. (HAS) is still trying to recover, and its shares are down 48% from their first-quarter 2020 peak. Hasbro has popular games like Dungeons & Dragons under its umbrella. But, unlike rival Mattel Inc. (MAT), it didn't have "Barbie," a film that dominated the box office last year, and Hasbro has cut staff and forecast a continued slowdown in sales.

Anheuser-Busch InBev shares (BUD) are 28.3% lower than their closing high in 2020's first quarter. The stock last year took a hit due to a sharp drop in Bud Light sales, following a conservative boycott campaign in response to Bud Light's promotional partnership with a transgender influencer. More broadly, demand for light beer has fallen in recent years, largely because customers have migrated to other options.

Elsewhere, Citigroup Inc. (C), which is exiting businesses abroad, is off 25.9% from its first-quarter 2020 high. Intel Corp. (INTC), whose recent financial forecasts have disappointed investors, is down 37%, though it was up 2% at midday Thursday and was one of the driving forces behind a 350-point Dow industrials DJIA surge.

-Bill Peters

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03-21-24 1321ET

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