3 Hated Stocks with Mounting Challenges

The past year hasn't been kind to the stocks featured in this article. Each has tumbled to their lowest points in 12 months, leaving investors to decide whether they're witnessing fire sales or falling knives.

Price charts only tell part of the story. Our team at StockStory evaluates each company's underlying fundamentals to separate temporary setbacks from structural declines. That said, here are three stocks where the outlook is warranted and some alternatives with better fundamentals.

Marcus & Millichap (MMI)

One-Month Return: -13.3%

Founded in 1971, Marcus & Millichap (NYSE:MMI) specializes in commercial real estate investment sales, financing, research, and advisory services.

Why Is MMI Risky?

Products and services have few die-hard fans as sales have declined by 2.9% annually over the last five years Cash-burning history makes us doubt the long-term viability of its business model Diminishing returns on capital suggest its earlier profit pools are drying up

At $30.30 per share, Marcus & Millichap trades at 380.9x forward price-to-earnings. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than MMI.

GMS (GMS)

One-Month Return: +2%

Founded in 1971, GMS (NYSE:GMS) distributes specialty building materials including wallboard, ceilings, and insulation products, to the construction industry.

Why Are We Hesitant About GMS?

Absence of organic revenue growth over the past two years suggests it may have to lean into acquisitions to drive its expansion Estimated sales decline of 3.7% for the next 12 months implies a challenging demand environment Earnings per share have contracted by 13.3% annually over the last two years, a headwind for returns as stock prices often echo long-term EPS performance

GMS’s stock price of $72.06 implies a valuation ratio of 9.2x forward price-to-earnings. To fully understand why you should be careful with GMS, check out our full research report (it’s free).

Alamo (ALG)

One-Month Return: -9%

Expanding its markets through acquisitions since its founding, Alamo (NSYE:ALG) designs, manufactures, and services vegetation management and infrastructure maintenance equipment for governmental, industrial, and agricultural use.

Why Does ALG Give Us Pause?

Annual revenue growth of 3.7% over the last two years was below our standards for the industrials sector Demand is forecasted to shrink as its estimated sales for the next 12 months are flat Capital intensity has ramped up over the last five years as its free cash flow margin decreased by 4.9 percentage points

Alamo is trading at $169.04 per share, or 15.6x forward price-to-earnings. If you’re considering ALG for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.

Story Continues

Stocks We Like More

Donald Trump’s victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs.

While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 175% over the last five years.

Stocks that made our list in 2019 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+2,183% between December 2019 and December 2024) as well as under-the-radar businesses like United Rentals (+322% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.

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