In this piece, we will take a look at the ten blue chip stocks at 52 week lows. If you want to skip the latest stock market news, then you can take a look at the 5 Blue-Chip Stocks At 52-Week Lows.
The end of January has provided the media and investors with crucial information from the Federal Reserve just in time to set expectations of what to expect from the market and the economy moving forward. 2024 is an important year not only in finance but also in politics due to the upcoming presidential election. At the same time, interest rates are at multi-year highs, tightening financial conditions and creating a restrictive environment that increases the possibility of stressing business operations.
These stressors were visible during the bank earnings cycle of Q4 2023. In fact, the first month of 2024 is ominously similar to what happened in March 2023. Back then, rapid interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve coupled with imprudent financial planning led to a string of successive bank failures on Wall Street. Some of the biggest banks in the U.S. were left unable to meet their depositor requirements, and for a while, government officials, analysts, hedge fund managers, executives, economists, and others were left wondering whether the contagion could spread to mega banks such as JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM) and Bank of America Corporation (NYSE:BAC).
Now, another regional bank is creating quite a bit of turmoil in the banking sector. New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB)’s shares are down by a painful 37% for their worst drop in history. The plummet followed the bank’s announcement that it lost $252 million in the fourth quarter. It also expects high credit losses in 2024, while it also announced a shocking 71% dividend cut fueled by the need to shore up its balance sheet to maintain regulatory status.
The fall in New York Community Bancorp’s shares shows how small firms are more vulnerable to economic headwinds than large firms. This is also why during turbulent economic times, particularly like those in 2022 and 2020, investors often flock to the stability of large cap stocks. After its record setting share price drop, NYCB is worth a modest $4.67 billion which classifies it as a mid cap stock. Stocks that have a market capitalization greater than $10 billion are classified as large cap stocks, and they are followed by the rare bunch of firms called mega caps which are worth at least $200 billion.
Subsequently, large cap stocks are often sizeable companies with robust balance sheets that provide management, employees, and investors with comfort in their ability to weather out most economic storms. This might be important considering that perhaps the most important financial report for January 2024 has come in the form of the Federal Reserve’s latest decision for interest rates.
In its latest meeting, the central bank decided to keep interest rates at current levels after it shared that while inflation has dropped, it remains high enough to keep the monetary environment in restrictive territory. The Fed’s announcement came as even big tech mega cap stocks failed to maintain their footing in an economy that’s growing but seeing tight capital conditions that managers have not had to account for in years. Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL), one of the technology industry’s eminent players when it comes to artificial intelligence warned that costs would prove to be higher than what many would have liked them to be.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell stated at the post policy announcement press conference that his organization would “need to see continuing evidence to build confidence that inflation is moving down sustainably toward our goal” of 2% before it can feel comfortable to tinker with the monetary policy. The Fed’s top official was also content with the labor market’s performance as he shared that labor demand and supply seemed to be stabilizing and wage growth had also started to moderate. Inflation and the labor market performance are the two key areas of monetary policy that the Federal Reserve has to moderate, and their performance provides analysts and investors with the first set of the proverbial tea leaves when it comes to understanding future stock market and economic performance.
Chair Powell went on to add:
We believe that our policy rate is likely at its peak for this tightening cycle and that, if the economy evolves broadly as expected, it will likely be appropriate to begin dialing back policy restraint at some point this year. But the economy has surprised forecasters in many ways since the pandemic, and ongoing progress toward our 2 percent inflation objective is not assured. The economic outlook is uncertain, and we remain highly attentive to inflation risks. We are prepared to maintain the current target range for the federal funds rate for longer, if appropriate.
As labor market tightness has eased and progress on inflation has continued, the risks to achieving our employment and inflation goals are moving into better balance. We know that reducing policy restraint too soon or too much could result in a reversal of the progress we have seen on inflation and ultimately require even tighter policy to get inflation back to 2 percent. At the same time, reducing policy restraint too late or too little could unduly weaken economic activity and employment. In considering any adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will carefully assess the incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks. The Committee does not expect it will be appropriate to reduce the target range until it has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2 percent. We will continue to make our decisions meeting by meeting.
With these details in mind, let’s take a look at some blue chip stocks that are trading at 52 week lows. A couple of these stocks are Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), and Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO). For more such stocks you can take a look at 15 Best Blue Chip Dividend Stocks To Buy and 10 Top Rated Blue Chip Stocks Wall Street Analysts Are In Love With: January 2024.
Our Methodology
To make our list of blue chip stocks at 52 week lows, we ranked large cap firms trading on the NYSE and NASDAQ whose shares are trading at new 52 week lows or are at most 3% higher. The blue chip stocks at 52 week lows with the highest market capitalization were selected, and their share prices are also mentioned.
For these blue chip stocks at 52 week lows, we have also mentioned hedge fund sentiment. Hedge funds’ top 10 consensus stock picks outperformed the S&P 500 Index by more than 140 percentage points over the last 10 years (see the details here). That’s why we pay very close attention to this often-ignored indicator.
Blue-Chip Stocks At 52 Week Lows
10. The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)
52-week Range: 30.71 – 57.46
Current Share Price: $30.71
Share Price % Above 52 Week Low: 0%
The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) is an American company that sells fertilizers and other products to the agriculture industry. Despite the fact that the stock is currently at 52 week low levels, institutional investors continue to hold nearly 90% of its shares, underscoring The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS)’s ability to profit from a growth in the global food requirements.
As of Q3 2023 end, 35 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s database had bought a stake in The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS). Cliff Asness’s AQR Capital Management was the firm’s largest hedge fund shareholder due to its $115 million investment.
Along with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), and Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO), The Mosaic Company (NYSE:MOS) is another blue chip stock at 52 week lows.
9. BeiGene, Ltd. (NASDAQ:BGNE)
52-week Range: $147.95 – $272.49
Current Share Price: $148.23
Share Price % Above 52 Week Low: 0.19%
BeiGene, Ltd. (NASDAQ:BGNE) is a biotechnology company developing medicines to treat cancer. Despite the fact that the stock is trading a hairline percentage shy of the 52 week low, the shares are rated Strong Buy on average with an average analyst share price target of $284.56.
During last year’s third quarter, 13 out of the 910 hedge funds polled by Insider Monkey had held a stake in the firm. BeiGene, Ltd. (NASDAQ:BGNE)’s biggest investor among these is Julian Baker and Felix Baker’s Baker Bros. Advisors through its $2 billion stake.
8. Mobileye Global Inc. (NASDAQ:MBLY)
52-week Range: $25.77 – $48.11
Current Share Price: $25.86
Share Price % Above 52 Week Low: 0.35%
Mobileye Global Inc. (NASDAQ:MBLY) is an Israeli automotive technology company headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. An Intel subsidiary, the firm has beaten analyst EPS estimates in all of its four latest quarters with Q4 2023 doubling its profit even as its parent entity was struggling.
For their September quarter of 2023 shareholdings, 30 out of the 910 hedge funds part of Insider Monkey’s database were Mobileye Global Inc. (NASDAQ:MBLY)’s shareholders.
7. DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE:DD)
52-week Range: $61.72 – $78.74
Current Share Price: $61.80
Share Price % Above 52 Week Low: 0.13%
DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE:DD) is an American industrial chemicals company whose products are used as raw materials for a wide variety of products. Its shares plunged in January 2024 as an EPS guidance range of $0.63 – $0.65 for the first quarter significantly undershot Wall Street expectations.
After digging through 910 hedge fund portfolios for last year’s third quarter, Insider Monkey discovered that 38 had bought and owned the firm’s shares. Dan Loeb’s Third Point was the largest DuPont de Nemours, Inc. (NYSE:DD) stakeholder since it owned 4.1 million shares that are worth $309 million.
6. Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)
52-week Range: $252.11 – $348.52
Current Share Price: $253.28
Share Price % Above 52 Week Low: 0.46%
Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK) is an industrial hardware and software provider that caters to the needs of several sectors such as chip fabrication and aerospace. The shares are rated Buy on average and analysts have set an average share price target of $307.58.
34 out of the 910 hedge funds covered by Insider Monkey’s Q3 2023 research had held a stake in Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK). Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK)’s biggest hedge fund investor is Ken Fisher’s Fisher Asset Management due to its $158 million investment.
Rockwell Automation, Inc. (NYSE:ROK), Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD), Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:BMY), and Altria Group, Inc. (NYSE:MO) are some blue chip stocks at 52 week lows.
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Disclosure: None. 10 Blue-Chip Stocks At 52 Week Lows is originally published on Insider Monkey.