2 S&P 500 Stocks Just Touched 52-Week Lows
A short list of market losers raises questions about industry-specific weakness versus individual company trouble.
On Tuesday, August 25, just 2 S&P 500 stocks are trading at their 52-week lows, even as the S&P 500 itself returned +3.6% over the last month. The largest company on this very short list is L3Harris Technologies (LHX), with a market value of about $49.0 billion.
With both names hailing from the Industrials sector, the immediate question is whether this points to a specific pocket of weakness or simply two unrelated stories. The full list of names follows.
Tuesday’s Full 52-Week-Low List
Here are all 2 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LHX | $49.0 Bil | -0.3% | -6.2% | -13.6% | -3.4% |
| LII | $13.5 Bil | -2.5% | -5.3% | -28.9% | -33.6% |
Is a new low always a sign of a shrinking business?
L3Harris Technologies (LHX) suggests not. The stock has declined 13.6% over the last month, yet its revenue grew 7.3% over the last twelve months. The company trades at 26.2 times trailing earnings with a free cash flow yield of 5.8%.
In contrast, the list’s other member, Lennox International (LII), saw a steeper 28.9% one-month slide. Its revenue declined 2.1% over the last twelve months, presenting a different fundamental picture.
What is the disciplined way to use this list?
A 52-week-low list is a starting point for research, not a conclusion. A stock at its weakest price in a year can signal real business damage, or it can mark a temporarily discounted enterprise whose fundamentals remain intact.
The disciplined move is always the same: investigate the business behind the stock price. Price is what you pay, but the quality of the underlying business is what you own.
If any of these names tempt you, resist buying a price alone. Our Buy the Dip screen asks the follow-up question that matters: which marked-down stocks still have the growth and cash generation to recover.
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 the three 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.