18 Stocks Hit 52-Week Lows On Thursday
A list of market laggards holds several household names, even as the broader market climbs higher.
The Restaurants industry placed 3 names on today’s 52-week-low list, more than any other. In total, 18 US and Canada-listed stocks with a market value above $500 million are at their weakest price of the past year. The largest is McDonald’s (MCD), with a market value of about $184.8 billion.
This weakness in specific large-cap names comes as the S&P 500 (SPY) has returned +5.7% over the last month. The divergence raises a critical question for anyone scanning the names below: is the market mispricing a solid business, or correctly identifying a damaged one? The full list follows.
The Complete 52-Week-Low List
Here are all 18 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCD | $184.8 Bil | -2.6% | -3.4% | -4.2% | -14.9% |
| TJX | $148.4 Bil | -1.9% | -4.6% | -16.7% | -0.6% |
| NKE | $57.0 Bil | -0.4% | -4.4% | -11.1% | -49.8% |
| LHX | $48.9 Bil | -0.4% | -3.1% | -11.9% | -4.1% |
| LVS | $28.9 Bil | -4.3% | -3.8% | -8.3% | -19.6% |
| VICI | $27.5 Bil | -0.9% | -3.0% | -5.0% | -18.0% |
| ROL | $17.3 Bil | -2.1% | -1.2% | -6.8% | -35.4% |
| APTV | $9.7 Bil | -1.8% | -3.4% | -21.6% | -43.1% |
| WYNN | $9.6 Bil | -3.7% | -6.0% | -5.2% | -20.7% |
| WING | $3.0 Bil | -2.0% | -3.2% | -20.9% | -65.9% |
| HWKN | $2.4 Bil | -0.8% | -1.4% | -15.0% | -31.0% |
| BXMT | $2.3 Bil | -0.8% | -3.8% | -15.8% | -21.2% |
| CPRI | $1.6 Bil | -3.1% | -4.3% | -16.7% | -38.6% |
| UTI | $1.2 Bil | -2.3% | -5.7% | -47.3% | -18.5% |
| CSR | $0.9 Bil | -1.6% | -3.0% | -7.2% | -3.5% |
| GOOS | $0.8 Bil | -0.2% | -5.3% | -12.4% | -33.4% |
| PZZA | $0.8 Bil | -1.6% | -0.4% | -24.1% | -50.4% |
| MATW | $0.7 Bil | -2.4% | -2.9% | -25.2% | -9.6% |
Is the business broken or just on sale?
Some names on this list show a stark contrast between their stock price and recent business performance. Las Vegas Sands (LVS) is at a new low, yet its revenue grew 18.1% over the last twelve months and its free cash flow yield is 9.3%. Similarly, TJX Companies (TJX) stock has declined 16.7% over the last month, while its revenue grew 8.1% over the last twelve months. These are not signs of a business in collapse, even as the stock prices reflect significant pressure.
A low price is a starting point, not a conclusion.
A 52-week-low list is a screen for dislocation, not a shopping list. The steepest one-month slide here belongs to Universal Technical Institute (UTI), down 47.3%. That kind of move demands scrutiny. A low can mark real damage to a company’s prospects, or it can be an opportunity in a business whose value has not changed as much as its price. The disciplined move is always to check the business first.
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: 12 of the 18 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 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.