7 S&P 500 Stocks Just Touched 52-Week Lows
A very short list of market laggards features some of the largest companies in the index.
International Business Machines (IBM), a company with a market value of about $197.6 billion, is trading at a 52-week low. Its stock has declined 15.5% over the last month, a period where the S&P 500 returned +0.2%.
Only 7 S&P 500 stocks hit new lows on Tuesday. The question for an investor is what to make of a list this small that contains names this large. The full data follows below.
The Full List, Largest First
- 15 S&P 500 Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
- The 52-Week-Low List: 19 Names On Tuesday
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 54 Small Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
- S&P 500 Movers | Winners: SNDK, WDC, MU | Losers: DHR, MSCI, TYL
- Market Movers | Winners: CPHI, UTZ, VIVK | Losers: BURU, LSTA, QMLS
- 14 Mid Cap Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Tuesday
The table below lists every stock at its 52-week low, largest first, with one-day, one-week, one-month, and one-year returns:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| IBM | $197.6 Bil | -1.2% | -3.0% | -15.5% | -24.5% |
| MCD | $187.6 Bil | -1.4% | -1.9% | -5.3% | -9.0% |
| LOW | $113.1 Bil | -1.2% | -2.6% | -9.0% | -5.9% |
| CPRT | $25.4 Bil | -1.2% | -1.3% | -10.1% | -40.9% |
| PNR | $10.0 Bil | -1.0% | -18.8% | -17.3% | -41.6% |
| WYNN | $9.8 Bil | -1.1% | -1.3% | -10.3% | -10.6% |
| PSKY | $9.5 Bil | -0.5% | -6.5% | -14.2% | n/a |
Some of these businesses are still growing.
International Business Machines (IBM) stands out for its size, but also for its fundamentals. While the stock is at its weakest price of the year, its revenue grew 9.7% over the last twelve months. The company trades at 18.4 times trailing earnings with a free cash flow yield of 6.2%. A similar story appears with Lowe’s Companies (LOW), a $113.1 billion retailer. Its revenue grew 6.2% over the last twelve months, and it trades at 17.0 times trailing earnings with a free cash flow yield of 6.7%.
A low price is a question, not an answer.
A 52-week-low list is not a shopping list. It is a collection of problems to be diagnosed. A low can mark real damage to a company’s prospects, or it can signal a solid business that has been marked down. The disciplined move is always the same: investigate the business behind the stock before making any decision based on the price alone.
A 52-week-low list tells you where the pain is; it does not tell you which of these declines are worth buying. That second question is what our Buy the Dip screen answers, every day: beaten-down names where the fundamentals still hold up.
Notice how many of these names sit in one corner of the market: 3 of the 7 are Consumer Discretionary stocks. When a whole group is marked down together, a consumer discretionary ETF like XLY is one way to own an eventual recovery without betting on which single name survives it best.
Weakness Is Information. It Is Not An Instruction
A 52-week low tells you what the market thinks today. It does not tell you what to do, and acting on price alone is how value traps get bought. The missing ingredient is always the same: is the business still sound?
Asking that question across thousands of stocks, every day, is exactly how the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is built: roughly 30 names that pass the quality screens, held with rules instead of nerve. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines all major indices – the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000. Let the low list sharpen your watchlist, and let the portfolio carry the risk.