• Ticker: GNW
• 2014 performance: -50%

Insurance companies are known as relatively boring stocks to own, but don't tell that to Genworth Financial investors.

They're probably still trying to catch their breath from a 38% plunge the insurer's stock took in a single day in November.

That meltdown was fueled by Genworth Financial's (GNW) alarming third-quarter loss of $844 million. It was caused by Genworth underpricing many of its offerings for long-term care insurance, which helps pay for nursing-home and home-based health care.

As if those losses weren't enough, Standard & Poor's followed suit by downgrading Genworth's credit rating into junk territory.

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