8 Red Days In A Row: NewMarket Stock Is Down 21%
Shares of NewMarket (NEU) have closed lower in each of the last 8 sessions, a cumulative decline of 21.1%. That erased about $1.7 billion from the company’s market value, which now stands at about $6.3 billion. The stock closed at $693.08 on Thursday, November 5, 27.7% below its 52-week high of $958.64 and 20.0% above its low of $577.59.
The Streak Next To The S&P 500
Returns for NEU and the S&P 500 over the streak and the periods around it, all ending Thursday, November 5 and including dividends:
| Return Period | NEU | S&P 500 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Day | -4.4% | -4.4% |
| 8 Days (Current Streak) | -21.1% | -4.2% |
| 1 Month (21 Trading Days) | -23.5% | -5.7% |
| 3 Months (63 Trading Days) | -21.8% | -5.0% |
| Year To Date | 2.1% | 8.4% |
| 1 Year (252 Trading Days) | -8.7% | 9.9% |
Is This Move About NewMarket Or The Market?
Over the same 8 trading days, the S&P 500 returned -4.2% including dividends, so the slide is mostly NewMarket’s own story rather than the market’s. Over the past three months the stock is down 21.8%, a window that includes the streak; over the other 55 sessions of that window it was essentially flat (-1.0%).
Is The Business As Weak As The Stock?
On the fundamentals, revenue grew 0.9% over the last twelve months, against a median of 8.7% for S&P 500 Materials stocks; its operating margin is 20.2%, versus a median of 13.4%; and the stock trades at 13.9 times trailing earnings against a median of 19.9. The selling is hard to square with the fundamentals: margins above the median and a multiple below the median.
A slide like this raises an obvious follow-up: which marked-down stocks are actually worth buying? Our Buy the Dip screen runs that test every day, flagging beaten-down names whose fundamentals still hold up.
A Slide Like This Is Why Diversification Exists
Watching one stock fall day after day is the clearest lesson the market teaches about single-name risk. Whether this particular decline is an opportunity or a warning, the deeper point is the same: no one name should be able to do this to your portfolio.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is built on that principle: roughly 30 businesses selected for consistent cash generation, strong margins, and resilient balance sheets, sized and rebalanced with 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. Study the slide; spread the risk.