20 Stocks That Could Lose Ground Even in a Bull Market
Some equities are so fundamentally weak they may fall regardless of broader market gains. Here's what investors need to know.
Even as major U.S. indexes push higher, not every stock rides the wave — and some are so structurally impaired that they are likely to deliver losses to shareholders even when the broader bull market continues to run, according to a MarketWatch analysis.
The phenomenon highlights a critical blind spot for investors who assume a rising tide lifts all boats. In reality, company-specific headwinds — including deteriorating earnings, heavy debt loads, shrinking market share, or fading competitive advantages — can overwhelm the tailwind that a healthy macro environment provides.
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For retail investors, the lesson is pointed: passive exposure to index funds insulates a portfolio, but concentrated bets on individual names carry idiosyncratic risk that bull-market optimism cannot paper over. Stocks with persistent fundamental weaknesses tend to lag peers cycle after cycle, compounding losses over time even as benchmarks set new highs.
Market strategists often refer to these chronic underperformers as "value traps" or structural losers — companies that appear cheap on the surface but continue to erode shareholder value regardless of macroeconomic conditions. Identifying and avoiding them is as important to long-term portfolio construction as picking winners.
Continue reading at MarketWatch.com for the full list of 20 stocks analysts say are likely to lose money even if the bull market pushes forward.
