What Have Keysight Stock Holders Had To Sit Through?
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Shares of Keysight Technologies (KEYS) closed 23% below their October 2026 high on November 2, 2026. A $10,000 investment in the company ten years earlier was worth about $91,500 before dividends, while the same money in the S&P 500 grew to about $35,700 before dividends. That looks like an easy hold in hindsight, but it was not. How many times do you think Keysight stock fell 20% or more along the way?
How Often Did Keysight Stock Fall?
The stock dropped that far five times, including the current decline. Only one of those selloffs went deeper than 30%.
| High | Low | Keysight Technologies stock | S&P 500, same dates | Back above the old high |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apr 2019 | May 2019 | -23.0% | -4.9% | Jul 2019 |
| Nov 2019 | Mar 2020 | -28.2% | -18.6% | Nov 2020 |
| Dec 2021 | Oct 2023 | -42.6% | -14.1% | Dec 2025 |
| Jun 2026 | Jul 2026 | -20.5% | -2.1% | Oct 2026 |
| Oct 2026 | Nov 2026 | -23.0% | -3.5% | Not as of Nov 2026 |
Falls of 20% or more from a closing high, Nov 2016 to Nov 2026. Split-adjusted closing prices, dividends excluded.
That deepest drop lasted from December 2021 to October 2023. Keysight stock fell 42.6% over those months, while the S&P 500 lost 14.1%. Investors did not see the December 2021 high again until December 2025, almost four years after it was set.
What Did Holding Keysight Through A Fall Feel Like?
Consider the decline that began in late June 2026. The stock fell 20.5% in just over a month. It then took about two more months, until October 1, to close above that June high again.
Shareholders sat through that period with no way of knowing it would end. Four of Keysight’s five falls finished with the stock back above its old high. Five days after recovering, the stock set a new high on October 6, and the current decline began.
Was Something Wrong With Keysight’s Business?
Not while the stock was falling. Keysight sells testing tools for communications networks, defense, chips and cars through its Communications Solutions Group and its Electronic Industrial Solutions Group. During the deepest drop, twelve-month revenue rose 13.3% between the high and the low. The operating margin also widened to 25.4% from 21.9%.
Sales did slip, but only after that low. Over the following year, revenue fell 10.6%. During the June 2026 decline, revenue rose 36.5% in the quarter ended July 2026 from a year earlier. In both cases, the stock fell while the business grew. A decline like that is the risk of owning the stock.
What Selling Keysight Stock Would Have Cost
Keysight stock is up 150.6% since its October 2023 low, and anyone who sold there missed the entire gain. Today, the stock is falling again less than a month after its October 2026 high.
Picking the stock ten years ago was only half the challenge. The other half was holding it, and the investors who captured the gain sat through every one of those falls. The falls were what the gain cost. Now, and the next time Keysight stock drops hard, the number to check is whether its sales are falling too. The company is expected to report its fiscal Q4 2026 results in November 2026. Even that test can mislead: sales fell in the year after the 2023 low, and the stock still recovered.
Sitting On A Big Gain In Keysight Technologies?
After a run like this, the hard questions are personal: hold, trim or sell, and the tax on each. Our partner advisory firm offers a free strategy review of ways to keep part of the upside, protect the rest and spread the tax over years.
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