Flex Stock Slides 36% Over 10 Straight Down Days
Flex stock has fallen for 10 consecutive trading days, losing 36.1% over that stretch. That erased about $15.8 billion from the company’s market value, which now stands at about $28.0 billion. The stock closed at $76.55 on Friday, October 23, 52.8% below its 52-week high of $162.07 and 40.4% above its low of $54.51.
How The Streak Stacks Up Against The S&P 500
Returns for FLEX and the S&P 500 over the streak and the periods around it, all ending Friday, October 23 and including dividends:
| Return Period | FLEX | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Day | -0.2% | -0.5% |
| 10 Days (Current Streak) | -36.1% | -2.4% |
| 1 Month (21 Trading Days) | -31.9% | -1.0% |
| 3 Months (63 Trading Days) | -34.0% | 3.1% |
| Year To Date | 26.7% | 12.4% |
| 1 Year (252 Trading Days) | 24.8% | 15.1% |
A Stock-Specific Slide, Or A Market Move?
The market explains little of this: the S&P 500 lost 2.4% over the same 10 sessions, including dividends, against Flex’s -36.1%. 1 other S&P 500 stock is currently on losing streaks of 10 days or longer. Over the past three months the stock is down 34.0%, a window that includes the streak; over the other 53 sessions of that window it was up 3.2%.
What The Numbers Say About The Slide
On the fundamentals, revenue grew 12.2% over the last twelve months, against a median of 17.9% for S&P 500 Information Technology stocks; its operating margin is 5.2%, versus a median of 21.6%; and the stock trades at 28.8 times trailing earnings against a median of 34.1. On these numbers the business looks sturdier than the stock, with a multiple below the median.
If the drop has you weighing an entry, resist buying on price alone. Our Buy the Dip screen ranks the marked-down names where growth and cash generation still hold up.
Weakness In One Name Should Be Noise, Not News
For a diversified holder, a streak like this is a data point. For a concentrated one, it is a hole in the plan. The difference is never the stock; it is the portfolio built around it.
Building that portfolio is what the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio does: roughly 30 businesses with the cash generation and balance-sheet strength to absorb a bad month, selected and rebalanced by rules. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400, and the Russell 2000. Make the next streak, in either direction, someone else’s drama.