8 Red Days In A Row: Morgan Stanley Stock Is Down 8.8%
Morgan Stanley (MS) stock is on an 8-day losing streak, down 8.8% since the run began. That erased about $28.1 billion from the company’s market value, which now stands at about $292.2 billion. The stock closed at $188.01 on Thursday, October 1, 17.3% below its 52-week high of $227.30 and 26.6% above its low of $148.49.
MS Versus The S&P 500
Returns for MS and the S&P 500 over the streak and the periods around it, all ending Thursday, October 1 and including dividends:
| Return Period | MS | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Day | 0.0% | 0.2% |
| 8 Days (Current Streak) | -8.8% | -1.2% |
| 1 Month (21 Trading Days) | -10.9% | 0.6% |
| 3 Months (63 Trading Days) | -11.6% | 2.7% |
| Year To Date | 7.6% | 13.0% |
| 1 Year (252 Trading Days) | 21.0% | 16.0% |
How The Streak Compares With The Market
The market explains little of this: the S&P 500 lost 1.2% over the same 8 sessions, including dividends, against Morgan Stanley’s -8.8%. 2 other S&P 500 stocks are currently on losing streaks of 8 days or longer. Over the past three months the stock is down 11.6%, a window that includes the streak; over the other 55 sessions of that window it was down 3.1%.
What The Numbers Say About The Slide
On the fundamentals, revenue grew 18.8% over the last twelve months, against a median of 10.2% for S&P 500 Financials stocks; and the stock trades at 14.5 times trailing earnings against a median of 13.9. The fundamentals give the sellers some support.
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.
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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.