Snap leads gainers in weak week for Communications stocks
Torsten Asmus

Stocks as a whole took another bath over the past week, but in a 2022 oddity, Communications stocks weren't close to the worst of the bunch.
The S&P 500 slipped 3.3% over the period, its third straight week in the doldrums, and every sector finished up in the red by a ways. Materials and Technology were the worst-performing sectors, down 5% each; Communication Services, by contrast, was third-best, falling only 2.4% for the period (the Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLC) fell 2.39%.)
The result was that only five large-cap Communications names even ended up positive for the week, and they were led easily by something of a relief rally in Snap (NYSE:SNAP) - which managed a brief turnaround of a terrible 2022 by rising Wednesday on the news it would undertake a major restructuring and shed 20% of its workforce. It rose 5.2% on the week; the stock is down 76% year-to-date and down 85% from a year ago.
Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) was another beaten-down name that eked out a gain, up 1.3% for the week; it saw its best session on Thursday, alongside news trickling out that it was likely to accelerate the launch of an ad-supported tier (with the help of two new top execs it snapped up from Snap).
The week's worst Communications decliners didn't fall as much as previous outliers have on this list, showing the breadth of the market decline this week.
It was enough of an oddity this week that Chinese Communications names weren't on either extreme (Stocks like Baidu (BIDU), NetEase (NTES), and Bilibili (BILI) have tended to trade in blocs either up or down).
But the losers weren't limited to telecoms either. Lumen Technologies (NYSE:LUMN) did worst, down 8.5% for the week (and it's down more than 22% year-to-date now), but media names showed up as well: Paramount Global (PARA) fell 7.2% for the week, and it's sitting on a one-year drop of 44%; and Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO) was down 6.9% for the week, and it's 33.6% lower year-to-date.
The only five gainers over the past five sessions among large-cap Communication Services stocks and larger ($10B market cap or more):

Snap (SNAP), +5.2%;
Netflix (NFLX), +1.3%;
PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia (TLK), +1.2%;
Endeavor Group Holdings (EDR), +0.9%;
Orange (ORAN), +0.7%.

The five worst performers over the past five sessions among large-cap Communication Services stocks and larger ($10B market cap or more):

Lumen Technologies (LUMN), -8.5%;
Twilio (NYSE:TWLO), -7.4%;
Paramount Global Class B (PARA), -7.2%;
Take-Two Interactive Software (TTWO), -6.9%

Formula One Group Series C (FWONK), -6.8%.