The past year hasn’t been kind to the stocks featured in this article. Each has tumbled to its lowest point 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. Keeping that in mind, here are three stocks where the skepticism is well-placed and some better opportunities to consider.
Boyd Gaming (BYD)
One-Month Return: -10.6%
Run by the Boyd family, Boyd Gaming (NYSE: BYD) is a diversified operator of gaming entertainment properties across the United States, offering casino games, hotel accommodations, and dining.
Why Do We Steer Clear of BYD?
- Annual revenue growth of 6.9% over the last five years was below our standards for the consumer discretionary sector
- Poor free cash flow margin of 6.1% for the last two years limits its freedom to invest in growth initiatives, execute share buybacks, or pay dividends
- Diminishing returns on capital from an already low starting point show that neither management’s prior nor current bets are going as planned
Boyd Gaming’s stock price of $69.33 implies a valuation ratio of 9.7x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with BYD, check out our full research report (it’s free).
Deckers (DECK)
One-Month Return: -10.3%
Established in 1973, Deckers (NYSE: DECK) is a footwear and apparel conglomerate with a portfolio of lifestyle and performance brands.
Why Is DECK Risky?
- Weak constant currency growth over the past two years indicates challenges in maintaining its market share
- Operating margin of 23.2% falls short of the industry average, and the smaller profit dollars make it harder to react to unexpected market developments
- Lacking free cash flow generation means it has few chances to reinvest for growth, repurchase shares, or distribute capital
At $78.11 per share, Deckers trades at 10.3x forward P/E. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why DECK doesn’t pass our bar.
CoStar (CSGP)
One-Month Return: -15.6%
With a research department that makes over 10,000 property updates daily to its 35-year-old database, CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP) provides comprehensive real estate data, analytics, and online marketplaces for commercial and residential properties in the U.S. and U.K.
Why Does CSGP Give Us Pause?
- Costs have risen faster than its revenue over the last five years, causing its adjusted operating margin to decline by 16.1 percentage points
- 10.8 percentage point decline in its free cash flow margin over the last five years reflects the company’s increased investments to defend its market position
- Diminishing returns on capital from an already low starting point show that neither management’s prior nor current bets are going as planned
CoStar is trading at $27.05 per share, or 18.6x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including CSGP in your portfolio.
Stocks We Like More
ONE MORE THING: Top 5 Growth Stocks. The biggest stock winners almost always had one thing in common before they ran. Revenue growing like crazy. Meta. CrowdStrike. Broadcom. Our AI flagged all three. They returned 315%, 314%, and 455%, respectively.
Find out which 5 stocks it’s flagging this month — FREE. Get Our Top 5 Growth Stocks for Free HERE.
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+1,154% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
