As we approach the end of the year it is an opportune moment to shine a light on some of this year’s least-loved stocks.

Rather than look at the stocks which have lost the most, we have collected together those trading at or near their lows for the year along with those with the fewest friends in the analyst community and those which the hedge fund community thinks are outright shorts.

If we first take the list of stocks trading at or close to their lows of the last 12 months, the first thing that strikes us is these aren’t obscure small- or mid-cap companies, but very well-known FTSE 100 firms, most of which could be considered household names.

Bottom of the pile in our ‘How close are they to their lows?’ table is Indivior (INDV), the maker of anti-opioid treatment Suboxone, which has been involved in almost constant litigation in the US over the last decade.

Not far behind Indivior is former parent and consumer health company Reckitt Benckiser (RKT), which posted disappointing third-quarter organic sales and would appear to be in the eye of the storm when it comes to shoppers trading down to own-brand alternatives.

New chief executive Kris Licht insists the firm has ‘a clear runway for sustainable growth with superior margins’ and is ‘well positioned to grow operating profit ahead of net revenue in the medium term’, but the market response has been underwhelming.

Other consumer goods companies finding themselves friendless this festive season are British American Tobacco (BATS), Diageo (DGE) and Unilever (ULVR).

British American Tobacco recently guided down its organic sales growth guidance and is taking a £25 billion impairment charge for its US combustible brands as it reassesses their carrying value and ‘useful economic lives’.

Drinks maker Diageo left investors with a sour taste due to a warning first-half earnings would miss forecasts, just weeks after the firm had said operating profit growth was accelerating.

Meanwhile, Unilever revealed some of its key brands had lost market share during the third quarter due to price rises although unlike Diageo it said demand in emerging markets remained robust.

Other FTSE 100 stocks trading near their lows are mobile network operator Vodafone (VOD), oil behemoth BP (BP.) and health care companies AstraZeneca (AZN) and Haleon (HLN).

In terms of analysts’ least-favourite stocks, readers need to bear in mind that most brokers avoid ‘sell’ recommendations as they don’t tend to sit too well with their paying corporate clients, so to spare their customers’ blushes they use the term ‘underweight’, which is a nice way of saying ‘on your own head be it’.

A quick scan of market screening stool Stockopedia reveals Holiday Inn-owner and FTSE 100 member Intercontinental Hotels (IHG) to be the least-loved stock, although that hasn’t stopped its shares gaining 30% this year to a new all-time high on the back of a recovery in the travel sector.

Housing market portal Rightmove (RMV), another FTSE 100 stock, is almost as friendless as Intercontinental Hotels following the news that smaller rival OnTheMarket is in takeover talks with US real estate giant CoStar (CSGP:NYSE).

Instead of a positive read-across, analysts and investors have taken the view CoStar will throw bundles of cash at OnTheMarket to try to take market share and revenue away from the market leader.

The stock on the list which leaves us most bemused, however, is global health, safety and environmental specialist Halma (HLMA), with over a quarter of analysts covering the firm rating it negatively.