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  • Ruti Ben-Shlomi, Ph.D., LightSolver
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3 Unpopular Stocks Facing Headwinds

By: StockStory

FFIV Cover Image

Wall Street has issued downbeat forecasts for the stocks in this article. These predictions are rare - financial institutions typically hesitate to say bad things about a company because it can jeopardize their other revenue-generating business lines like M&A advisory.

Accurately determining a company’s long-term prospects isn’t easy, especially when sentiment is weak. That’s where StockStory comes in - to help you find attractive investment candidates backed by unbiased research. Keeping that in mind, here are three stocks where the skepticism is well-placed and some better opportunities to consider.

F5 (FFIV)

Consensus Price Target: $289.84 (2.4% implied return)

Initially started as a hardware appliances company in the late 1990s, F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) makes software that helps large enterprises ensure their web applications are always available by distributing network traffic and protecting them from cyberattacks.

Why Are We Hesitant About FFIV?

  1. Annual revenue growth of 3.5% over the last three years was well below our standards for the software sector
  2. Challenges in acquiring and retaining long-term customers were reflected in its average ARR declines of 8.3% over the last year
  3. Estimated sales growth of 3.6% for the next 12 months is soft and implies weaker demand

F5’s stock price of $283 implies a valuation ratio of 5.5x forward price-to-sales. If you’re considering FFIV for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.

Williams-Sonoma (WSM)

Consensus Price Target: $176.83 (4.6% implied return)

Started in 1956 as a store specializing in French cookware, Williams-Sonoma (NYSE: WSM) is a specialty retailer of higher-end kitchenware, home goods, and furniture.

Why Does WSM Give Us Pause?

  1. Store closures and poor same-store sales reveal weak demand and a push toward operational efficiency
  2. Weak same-store sales trends over the past two years suggest there may be few opportunities in its core markets to open new locations
  3. Free cash flow margin shrank by 5.3 percentage points over the last year, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive

Williams-Sonoma is trading at $169 per share, or 19.2x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with WSM, check out our full research report (it’s free).

Richardson Electronics (RELL)

Consensus Price Target: $9.50 (2% implied return)

Founded in 1947, Richardson Electronics (NASDAQ: RELL) is a distributor of power grid and microwave tubes as well as consumables related to those products.

Why Do We Pass on RELL?

  1. Sales tumbled by 12.3% annually over the last two years, showing market trends are working against its favor during this cycle
  2. Earnings per share have contracted by 74.7% annually over the last two years, a headwind for returns as stock prices often echo long-term EPS performance
  3. Low free cash flow margin of -0.4% for the last five years gives it little breathing room, constraining its ability to self-fund growth or return capital to shareholders

At $9.31 per share, Richardson Electronics trades at 12.8x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including RELL in your portfolio.

High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions

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 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).

Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.

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