Four of the top 5 most viewed stocks in Yahoo Finance are tech companies. They are Apple, Facebook, MagicJack VocalTee and Nokia. The only non-tech is Bank of America.

However, being the most searched doesn't mean these companies shares were the best performing.

Yahoo Finance pointed out that in the case of Apple, it started 2013 on a bad note when The Wall Street Journal reported that the tech firm cut orders for iPhone 5 parts by half. Apple's stock has been plummeting more than one year and shareholders did not hide their disappointment with the company's performance during the annual stockholders' meeting.

Shares of Apple had gone down 35 per cent from the high of $702 in September 2012, and it is down 17.6 per cent on a year-to-date basis. In contrast, for the same period, the NASDAQ has risen 2.32 per cent and Dow gained almost 7 per cent.

The company got downgrades from rating agencies after it reported weak holiday sales, prompting observers to point out that since the death of Steve Jobs, Apple's magic has gone as the management shifted focus to margins and just releasing old products in new colours.

Facebook unveiled a new product in January 2013, the graph search which is supposed to be the third major pillar of the most popular social networking site after the news feed and timeline.

Investors were apparently not impressed with the graph search and while Facebook reported better than expected quarterly earnings, it did not either move the stock market as investors expressed more concern about the company's volatility.

On Wednesday, March 27, Facebook shared closed at $26.09 while on a year-to-date basis, Facebook stock had lost 6.8 per cent of its value.

The only non-tech stock, Bank of America, appears to be improving after the bank passed the Federal Reserve's stress test in early 2013 and got approved for a $5 billion buyback. The bank could gain more if the rebound on the housing market would continue.

Because BofA as well as JPMorgan Chase and Well Fargo are now bigger than when they were prior to the 2008 global financial crisis, a bill was introduced to allow very large financial institutions to fail to protect the U.S. banking system and remove an implicit guarantee of a government bailout which taxpayers actually shoulder.

At closing of the stock market on Wednesday, BofA shared closed at $12.23, up 1.6 per cent for the year to date.

Like the two other tech companies, stocks of MagicJack VocalTee was one of the most viewed on Yahoo Finance's ticker pages because of the controversies the tech firm was involved in at the start of 2013, particularly accusations that the company engaged in improper accounting to boost profits.

While the former CEO of the company, which sells voice-over-Internet services, denied the charge that he used his common equity on margin as collateral for a debt, several class action lawsuits had been filed against MagicJack.

At closing of the bourse on Wednesday, the company shares were at $13.94, down 25 per cent for the quarter.

Finally, Nokia attracted attention of investors after the company after it reported shipment of 4.4 million units of the Lumia Windows Phone 8 smartphones, which analysts said are good enough to keep the company financially viable.

However, the Finnish phonemaker continues to struggle as its shared closed $3.34 on Wednesday, down 19 per cent for the year to date.

RELATED STORIES