Fortune 500 rank: 495
2013 revenue: $6.1 billion
2013 total return: -61.4%

As more people turned to smartphones, many traditional cellphone makers scrambled to adapt. Rather than trying to compete with new technology in the U.S., though, Nextel pushed its walkie-talkie “push-to-talk” devices in emerging markets like Brazil and Mexico, through its international division, NII Holdings. 

The plan worked OK until NII’s Latin American customers switched to smartphones. While the company has recently tried expanding its 3G network capabilities, it has been bleeding money in the process, with a net loss of $1.6 billion last year following a loss of $750 million the year earlier. Even management has expressed little faith in a turnaround, warning ominously in NII’s latest annual report that bankruptcy could be in store if it can’t improve cash flow, “which could mean that debt and equity holders could lose all or part of their investment.” After the stock plummeted 67% in 2012, Wall Street has mostly left the stock for dead; it fell another 61% last year.

Fortune 500 rank: 235
2013 revenue: $13 billion
2013 total return: -53.6%

It was a tumultuous year, to say the least, for J.C. Penney. The retailer reported even bigger losses in 2013—netting a negative $1.4 billion—compared with the year before. It also replaced its CEO for the second time in two years and lost its biggest shareholder, activist investor and hedge fund manager Bill Ackman.

As revenue continued to decline under the turnaround plan of the new CEO, former Apple executive Ron Johnson, the board replaced him in the spring with none other than his predecessor, Myron Ullman, who returned to his old office less than a year and a half after being fired himself. Shares tumbled amidst the shakeups, falling below $5.

Fortune 500 rank: 327
2013 revenue: $9.9 billion
2013 total return: -48.4%

When stocks retreat, many investors buy gold; when the market does well, gold and other precious metals generally suffer. So as equities enjoyed a banner year in 2013, rising more than 30%, that spelled bad news for mining companies like Newmont, where earnings declined in line with gold prices as demand for the metals dropped off.

Newmont lost a total of nearly $2.5 billion last year, disappointing analysts’ expectations, and cut its quarterly dividend, sending shares down nearly 50%. The company now plans to lower its gold production as well as spending this year.

Fortune 500 rank: 445
2013 revenue: $6 billion
2013 total return: -30.2%

Weak demand for construction, especially in China, is bad news for the producers of iron ore, which is used to make steel. Cliffs Natural Resources, as a large U.S. iron-ore miner with a lot of China exposure, took the brunt of that hit, as investors fear a further slowdown in the Chinese market.

 The company’s sales and margins declined in 2013, and in the fourth quarter profits declined more than 63%, after dropping 20% the previous quarter. With shares falling under $16, investors wondered whether the stock had finally bottomed out.

Fortune 500 rank: 365
2013 revenue: $8.3 billion
2013 total return: -25.3%

One of the largest coal miners in the world, Peabody, has been hurt lately by declining demand in emerging markets like China, which have been switching more to natural gas to generate electricity. The coal market has been left with a supply glut, lowering prices worldwide.

Adding to Peabody’s struggles, workers at one of its Australian mines went on strike last year, decreasing the company’s productivity and hitting the company’s bottom line with settlement charges. When the company forecast in December that earnings would come in as much as $80 million lower than it had previously expected, investors were not pleased, sending the stock down. And that was after earnings dropped 55% in the second quarter of 2013 compared to the previous year. In total, Peabody lost nearly $525 million last year.

Fortune 500 rank: 195
2013 revenue: $15.3 billion
2013 total return: -16.2%

Mild summer temperatures across the Northeast last year meant fewer FirstEnergy customers were using their air conditioners, leading to lower revenues at the utilities provider. Combined with unusually high regulatory costs, some of which related to damage from Hurricane Sandy and other storms, FirstEnergy’s profits declined nearly 50% in 2013.

 While the company cut costs by making layoffs and reducing its dividend, share prices dropped more than 16%.    

Fortune 500 rank: 283
2013 revenue: $11.1 billion
2013 total return: -14.9%

Fertilizer prices have fallen in recent years, as competition for foreign buyers has put pressure on producers like Mosaic. The company also had a rocky start to 2013 as it settled class-action lawsuits over whether its pricing of potash, which is used in its fertilizers, violated antitrust laws. The second half of the year just got worse for Mosaic, with earnings falling 70% in the third quarter.

As fertilizer prices continued to drag, Mosaic’s earnings wilted further. The company tried to counteract the effect by buying back stock, but share prices still declined 15%.

Fortune 500 rank: 158
2013 revenue: $18.4 billion
2013 total return: -13.2% 

For traditional telephone landline providers, the migration to cellphones has been tough. But CenturyLink was doing all right, or so investors thought, until it unexpectedly cut its dividend early in 2013. The stock floundered, and the announcement was only followed by more bad news, with the company reporting declines in sales of its consumer home telephone and voice services.

While CenturyLink has tried to push its newer businesses like high-speed Internet, its data hosting services haven’t taken off the way the company had hoped, which the company blamed as it swung to a big loss in the third quarter. For the year, it lost a total of $239 million, and shares dropped more than 13%.    

Fortune 500 rank: 328
2013 revenue: $8 billion
2013 total return: -9.4%

Yet another victim of the increasingly competitive market for smartphones and tablets, Broadcom, which supplies semiconductor chips for about half of such devices including Apple iPhones, has lately struggled to preserve its market share and profit margins amid lower prices. As revenue declined, the company warned that it expected even more erosion for future quarters, while also taking on extra costs as it acquired LTE technology from Renesas Electronics.

Still, Broadcom pleasantly surprised investors in the fall when its profit increased 44% in the third quarter, and the shares managed to regain some of their earlier losses, finishing down just over 9% for the year.

Fortune 500 rank: 155
2013 revenue: $17.2 billion
2013 total return: -8.2%

The demise of BlackBerry, while perhaps a boon to rival smartphone makers, has not been kind to Jabil, which makes the circuit boards used in the phones and other electronic equipment. Jabil has been suffering along with Blackberry, which was one of its largest customers, and is now in the process of restructuring its business.

When Jabil announced in December that it would sell off its aftermarket electronics repair business, which it had acquired in 1999, to focus on manufacturing, and at the same time lowered its earnings projections, shares crashed. A planned stock repurchase program appeased investors somewhat, but the stock still ended the year down more than 8%.

Fortune 500 rank: 493
2013 sales: $5.7 billion
2013 total return: -7.1%

Ever since the global commodities boom slowed last year, things have been a lot less happy for Joy Global. Sales of the company’s mining equipment have dropped as raw material prices have stumbled. And it might not just be a cyclical thing. The bulk of the company’s sales are to coal miners, which have been hurt by falling demand and concerns about pollution in China, as well as low natural gas prices in the U.S.  Joy’s earnings fell 22% in fiscal year2013, which ended in October. Analysts are expecting another big drop in the company’s bottom line this year.

Fortune 500 rank: 467
2013 sales: $4.7 billion
2013 total return: -6.9%

Calumet Specialty Products, which processes crude oil for a variety of industrial uses, spent 2013 upgrading a number of its plants. It may have beenthe wrong year to do renovations. Along with lost revenue from the closed facilities, Calumet got squeezed by a narrower spread between the price of crude oil and the falling demand for its waxes and lubricants. As a result, the company had its first annual loss since the latestrecession. But this year is looking up and the company’s stock is rebounding. Executives say spending on upgrades should fall dramatically this year.

Fortune 500 rank: 364
2013 sales: $7.5 billion
2013 total return: -6.2% 

It’s not just the extras that people forgo in tough economic times. It’s medical tests, too. Or so it seems. Sales dropped at lab testing company Quest Diagnostics in 2013. Medicine is supposed to be one of those things that are recession proof. But with many people out of work, and long past the expiration of their COBRA benefits, fewer people are opting for testing. The company was also hurt by pressure from insurance companies and government officials to cut the costs of its tests. In the year ahead, ObamaCare could probably help Quest. 

Fortune 500 rank: 220
2013 sales: $7.5 billion
2013 total return: -6.3%

C.H. Robinson offers some near literal evidence that the economic recovery is still moving along slowly. The trucking company reported disappointing earnings in 2013, which led some investors to sell the stock. Shipping volumes are up. But C.H. Robinson says it has been unable to pass along higher costs to its customers. The company said that trend is likely to continue in 2014.

Fortune 500 rank: 119
2013 sales: $23.4 billion
2013 total return: -3.5%

The nuclear option for Exelon appears to be investing in natural gas. The U.S.’s largest operator or nuclear reactors has been hurt by low power prices, driven down by cheap natural gas and proposed plants. Exelon thought it would benefit as coal plants got shut down. But that hasn’t happened. The company now expects to spend an additional $3 billion more than planned in the next few years on developing its natural gas and wind power generation facilities. 

Fortune 500 rank: 405
2013 sales: $6.1 billion
2013 total return: -1.5%

Late last year, investors in General Cable got the full Brazilian. The company, which makes copper, aluminum and fiber optic wire, told investors that an accounting error in a Brazilian unit would force it to delay its financial statements and restate earnings going back to 2008. The mistake shocked investors and spooked lenders. Moody’s Investors Services cut the company’s credit rating. All that has made it harder and more expensive for General Cable to borrow, and hurt profits.

Fortune 500 rank: 381
2013 sales: $7.1 billion
2013 total return: -0.9%

The Nook digital reader was supposed to save Barnes & Noble. It hasn’t. Amid losses, the book chain last year said it would sell off or spin out the division that makes the electric tablet. In July, the company’s CEO William Lynch, who had focused on developing the e-reader and media player, was gone as well. Earnings have improved recently, and shares have rebounded.  The company is now focused on expanding the number of stores it has on college campuses, because college students have never heard of Amazon.

Fortune 500 rank: 479
2013 sales: $4.9 billion
2013 total return: -0.8%

The lackluster economy is still continuing to weigh on Simon Property Group, which operates malls and outlet centers around the country. The company also faced a barrage of criticism and a shareholder lawsuit after it disclosed it was paying its CEO a $120 million retention bonus. The company has recently spun off its strip mall business to focus on higher-end properties, many of which are aging and in need of a facelift. The company said it plans to spend $1 billion a year through 2016 upgrading its shopping centers.

Fortune 500 rank: 23
2013 sales: $104.5 billion
2013 total return: -0.2%

The move into services that saved IBM years ago is starting to look like it won’t sustain the company forever. The computer giant’s sales from its services division fell 3% last year. It’s hardware division continues to decline. Many of the companies IBM relied on for revenue now do the work themselves. Upstarts like Salesforce.com and others have offered lower cost competing products. This time CEO Ginni Rometty is banking on its business information unit and Big Data to save the company, but other companies are trying to do the same and so far the move has only slowed IBM’s decline.

Fortune 500 rank: 128
2013 sales: $21.7 billion
2013 total return: 0.2%

EMC’s future is getting cloudier. Profit growth at the world’s largest maker of storage computers dropped dramatically in 2013. The company is struggling as corporations and individuals switch to storing more of their data in the cloud. EMC is trying to adapt, offering its own cloud-based software products, but it is still slowing sales of EMC’s more expensive servers. In January, the company said it would lay off 1,000 workers. 

Fortune 500 Rank: 13 and 32
2013 sales: $125.7 billion and $81.2 billion
2013 total return: 1,080.4% and 1002.7%

The stocks of these housing giants were left for dead after the housing market crashed. The federal government stepped in with tens of billions in bailout dollars to keep real estate credit flowing during the height of the financial crisis.

The Feds made it clear they intended to wind down Fannie  FNMA -0.50%  and Freddie  FMCC -0.26% , and while the housing market remained moribund, nobody took notice. But as the housing market recovered along with Fannie and Freddie’s profits, lawsuits filed by hedge fund investors raised the possibility that owners of the housing giants’ stock might be owed the tens of millions in earnings the companies had been sending to the Treasury in recent quarters.

Fortune 500 Rank: 118
2013 sales: $25.4 billion
 2013 total return: 272%

For years, Rite Aid  RAD 0.82%  was the sick man of the retail pharmacy industry, after a debt-fueled, pre-financial-crisis expansion left the firm unable to cope with the competitive pressures it faced from online retailers like Amazon.com. Rite Aid has since begun to focus on business lines that can’t easily shift to an online environment, like clinic services, and in April 2013, it posted its first quarterly profit in six years.

Rite Aid has doubled down on this strategy, announcing in April that it would acquire the Houston-based RediClinic, the nation’s fourth-largest retail clinic, a move investors think will help the company capitalize on the expansion of health insurance under Obamacare and the primary-care physician shortage in America.

Fortune 500 Rank: 60
2013 sales: $45.2 billion
2013 total return: 244%

Though Best Buy  BBY -3.22%  is still weathering the effects of a poor 2013 holiday shopping season, the performance of its stock leading up to that point was nothing short of spectacular. Investors bought into CEO Hubert Joly’s “Renew Blue” turnaround plan, which involves improving the electronics retailer’s e-commerce experience, setting up partnerships with Microsoft and Samsung to create “stores within stores,” and streamlining its overall operations so it can use its retail locations as a distribution network for online sales.

Joly has yet to turn his plan into profits, but even after dismal sales in the final quarter of 2013, the stock is well above its 2012 lows.

Fortune 500 Rank: 302
2013 sales: $9 billion
2013 total return: 243%

With total smartphone sales surpassing 1 billion in 2013, it’s not a bad time to be in the business of manufacturing memory chips for those little computers we’ve got in our pockets. The business is certainly working for Micron technology, which saw sales more than double in the first quarter of 2014 from a year earlier.

 Adding fuel to Micron’s growth was its acquisition of Japanese chipmaker Elpida Memory -- which is a main supplier of parts for popular Apple devices like the iPhone and iPad as well as Google’s Nexus products.

Fortune 500 Rank: 318
2013 sales: $8.6 billion
2013 total return: 211%

Caesars Entertainment was taken private in one of the largest and ill-timed leveraged buyouts in history, and the company has struggled under the weight of the debt used to finance the move along with increased competition as more jurisdictions legalize gambling.

But the firm’s management and private equity backers -- which still own 70% of the company -- have convinced investors that online gambling is the way of the future. And once the federal government gives it the go-ahead, Caesars will be in a prime spot to cash in.

Fortune 500 Rank: 94
2013 sales: $34.3 billion
2013 total return: 195%

The grocery business is undergoing a slow-moving revolution, as more consumers opt for high-end supermarkets like Whole Foods or choose to purchase goods online or at discount outlets.

Such trends have taken their toll on traditional grocers like Supervalu. The company’s stock fell more than 90% from June 2007 through 2012. But the firm began to turn things around in 2013, as it simplified its sourcing operations and offloaded some of its troubled brands to private equity firm Cerberus. The company rode those initiatives and a generally better economy in 2013 to its highest stock price in more than two years.

Fortune 500 Rank: 143
2013 sales: $20.7 billion
2013 total return: 156%

Carl Icahn has spent more than 60 years wheeling and dealing on Wall Street, and few of those years have been as fruitful as 2013. His holding company, Icahn Enterprises, placed representatives on the boards of seven different corporations over the course of the year, more than any other year in its history.

Ichan chose his investments wisely, too. Bets on companies like Apple, Netflix, and Chesapeake Energy helped his company deliver a return of more than 150%.

Fortune 500 Rank: 268
2013 sales: $10.5 billion
2013 total return: 143%

This 150-year-old paper-printing giant has navigated the decline and consolidation of the printing industry deftly, by selling itself as a one-stop shop for large, corporate printing needs and by purchasing smaller rivals.

Though analysts aren’t enthusiastic about the future of the printing industry in a digital world awash with smartphones and tablets, paper printing will continue to be in demand. And if R.R. Donnelly’s stock performance in 2013 is any indication, this firm will continue to dominate that market.

Fortune 500 Rank: 81
2013 sales: $37.8 billion
2013 total return: 133%

The airline industry has been famously unprofitable ever since its deregulation more than 30 years ago, but a series of mergers over the past decade and a recent decline in fuel prices helped put the industry in the black in 2013.

Leading this smaller pack was Delta Air Lines  DAL 1.24% , which was able to fill its planes more efficiently than its rivals, dominate the profitable New York market, and earn more dollars per passenger mile than even Southwest. And since Delta had been trading at much lower multiples than its peers, the airline was a big hit with investors in 2013.

Fortune 500 Rank: 401
2013 sales: $6.5 billion
2013 total return: 115%

Powered by its blockbuster cancer-fighting drug Revlimid, biotechnology firm Celgene’s revenues grew by nearly 20% in 2013. This sort of performance surely pleased investors, but they also have faith that the company will be able to continue to diversify its revenue stream with drugs like chemotherapy treatment Abraxane, which was acquired through Celgene’s 2010 takeover of Abraxis.

Fortune 500 Rank: 391
2013 sales: $6.6 billion
2013 total return: 113%

The mother of all alternative investment firms killed it in 2013, continuing to find new and creative ways to deploy its massive cache of capital. As Morningstar analyst Stephen Ellis has pointed out, “$102 billion of capital is now allocated to strategies that didn’t exist at the time of its 2007 IPO.”

The firm’s bet on the real estate recovery was a particularly wise and well-timed decision. Blackstone  BX -1.81%  invested in commercial and single-family residential real estate just as prices in those markets took off. According to the company, real estate revenues soared 107% in 2013, just one reason shareholders cheered the firm last year.

Fortune 500 Rank: 404
2013 sales: $6.5 billion
2013 total return: 112%

While the music business in general is a shadow of its former self, fans are still flocking to see their favorite acts perform. Live Nation Entertainment, which merged with Ticketmaster in 2010, is in a great position to capitalize on this trend as it owns or controls more than 100 of the most popular music venues in the country and gets a cut of ticketing fees to boot.

 In 2013, the firm expanded its interests in artist promotion with the acquisition of U2’s management company, Principle Management, helping the company to further tighten its grip on the live music experience.

Fortune 500 Rank: 453
2013 sales: $5.6 billion
2013 total return: 110%

Agribusiness giant The Andersons Inc. is well diversified, with business segments in fertilizers, ethanol, grain transportation, lawn care, and even retail. The firm’s ethanol unit in particular benefited from a growing economy, as demand for fuel was strong in 2013. The exceptional performance of The Andersons’ stock in 2013 led management to go through with a three-for-two stock split in December of last year.

Fortune 500 Rank: 367
2013 sales: $7.1 billion
2013 total return: 110%

Nearly a decade removed from its acquisition of Guidant -- which Fortune labeled the second-worst ever at the time -- Boston Scientific is finally pivoting from the pacemaker and heart-stint driven business it had been pursuing.

These days, investors are eager to get a piece of smaller but growing segments, like Boston Scientific’s Watchman device, which is designed to prevent strokes, or its neuromodulation division, which serves mentally ill patients.

Fortune 500 Rank: 382
2013 sales: $6.8 billion
2013 total return: 109%

You might be surprised to find a defense contractor on a list of best stock performers in this climate of government austerity, but Huntington Ingalls Industries isn’t just any defense contractor. It is the nation’s only builder of aircraft carriers and one of only two firms that produces nuclear submarines. And even if the U.S. military is purchasing significantly less of these products, it’s still buying what Huntington has to sell.

The shipbuilder is a key provider of destroyers and submarines to the U.S. Navy, which is becoming ever more important as the U.S. military tries to exert its power in an increasingly contentious Pacific Ocean.

Fortune 500 Rank: 339
2013 sales: $8 billion
2013 total return: 107%

TravelCenters -- the largest operator of travel stations along the U.S. highway system -- is in a highly cyclical business. Highway traffic, especially trucking, which makes up the majority of the firm’s revenue, is the lifeblood of the U.S. economy. When the economy is sick, that lifeblood flows much more slowly.

That’s why a brightening economic picture in 2013 (U.S. GDP grew by an average of 3.4% in the second half of 2013 and job growth was the highest since the end of the recession) helped improve TravelCenters’ performance and stock last year.

Fortune 500 Rank: 291
2013 sales: $9.6 billion
2013 total return: 107%

One of Genworth Financial’s main business lines is mortgage insurance, so you can guess that the recent real estate collapse wasn’t exactly great for their bottom line. The entire industry was nearly wiped out during the worst of the financial crisis, but Genworth persevered, wisely expanding its business overseas to more stable markets like Canada and Australia.

Another main line of Genworth’s business, long-term care insurance, is a risky but growing market, and Genworth pleased investors in 2013 by raising rates and cutting back on some benefits as customers live longer and become more costly to insure.

Fortune 500 Rank: 341
2013 sales: $7.9 billion
2013 total return: 105%

In 2013, Facebook  FB -0.26%  proved that it could become the mobile advertising powerhouse it always had the potential to be. Mobile ads now account for over half the company’s $2.5 billion in revenue, and with a user base of 1.27 billion, it’s the place to go for marketers looking to reach consumers on their phones.

Fortune 500 Rank: 144
2013 sales: $20.3 billion
2013 total return: 105%

Corporations across the Western world shed jobs with abandon following the financial crisis, and they have been slow to rehire, despite the fact that economic conditions have been improving for several years now. Instead of taking on the risk of hiring full-time workers, firms are turning to staffing companies like Manpower to fill their labor needs on a project-by-project basis.

Manpower has an advantage over some of its competitors on account of its truly global scale, offering multinational companies a single source for their staffing needs.

Fortune 500 Rank: 250
2013 sales: $11.2 billion
2013 total return: 105%

Drug-maker Gilead Sciences was already having a stellar 2013 on the strength of its industry-leading line of HIV and AIDS drugs, but the stock really kicked into high gear after the FDA approved its latest Hepatitis C treatment, Sovaldi, in December.

The drug is particularly valuable to insurance companies, who will pay top dollar for treatments that help patients avoid the ravaging and expensive-to-treat effects of Hepatitis C.