The stock market has gotten off to a rough start in 2022. The S&P 500 is down 7.3% and the Nasdaq is off 11.8%. Growth stocks -- and tech stocks in particular -- have underperformed. And it's not just the trendy pandemic tech stocks, like Zoom or Peloton , that have taken a hit. The VanEck Vectors Semiconductor ETF (NASDAQ: SMH) has pulled back 13.9% in 2022 after bagging a 41.9% return in 2021. With its beta of 1.23, the ETF shows that the semiconductor sector tends to run hot and cold -- beating the broad market during bull markets but also falling behind in bear markets.
One company that has followed this trend is Nova Ltd. (NASDAQ: NVMI) . The Israeli-based semiconductor equipment company founded in 1993 has lost 23.2% this year, after a stellar 2021, where they finished the year with a 107.5% gain. Nova provides metrology (i.e., measurement) solutions for chipmakers such as Taiwan Semiconductor (NYSE: TSM) and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) .
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