Tullow Oil plc (LON:TLW), Antofagasta plc (LON:ANTO) and BP plc (LON:BP) are three of the FTSE's biggest fallers in the last year.
In the last year, the FTSE 100 is up 7%. That's close to the long-term average return delivered by shares.
However, some FTSE shares have disappointed and fallen heavily. Are these former losers worth picking up today?
Here are another three of the FTSE's biggest fallers this last year.
Tullow Oil
Tullow Oil (LSE: TLW) is one of the FTSE 100's youngest companies. The company was first founded in 1985.
In the last 12 months, shares in the company have lost 22% of their value. The shares are now trading near a 12-month low.
As an exploration focused company, Tullow shares are vulnerable to large moves in the oil price. The price of oil is down by around 20% in the last year.
Fortunately, Tullow is engaged in a potentially high-impact drilling campaign in the Kenya/Ethiopia border area. If the company can replicate the success it has had in Uganda in this new acreage, the shares will move significantly higher.
Antofagasta
In the last 12 months, the price of gold is down 11.4%. This is bad news for a miner like Antofagasta (LSE: ANTO) (NASDAQOTH: ANFGY.US). Their shares are down 18.3 in the last year. Profit margins have been squeezed further by an increase in operational costs.
I expect that gold will continue its slide in 2013.
Antofagasta trades on a price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio for 2013 of 12.7 times consensus estimates. At today's price, the shares come with an expected 2013 yield of 2.9%. That's not expensive -- but not cheap, either.
Antofagasta is operating in an industry that I expect to run into tougher times. I shall be avoiding the shares.
BP
BP (LSE: BP) (NYSE: BP.US) shares are down 11.1% in the last year.
Today, the company is involved in a court case regarding its role in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico disaster. It feels as though the shares could move significantly in either direction from here. An unfavourable verdict could see the company forced to stump up billions of dollars paying more fines.
BP is expected to start a new Russian deal with Rosneft next month. This could be a crucial stage in the company's future.
BP shares are forecast to yield 6.2% for 2013. The shares currently trade on a P/E for the year of just 8.1 times forecast earnings.
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> David does not own shares in any of the above companies.
