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3 Low-Volatility Stocks We Find Risky

By: StockStory

FFIV Cover Image

Stability is great, but low-volatility stocks may struggle to deliver market-beating returns over time as they sometimes underperform during bull markets.

Finding the right balance between safety and returns isn’t easy, which is why StockStory is here to help. That said, here are three low-volatility stocks to steer clear of and a few better alternatives.

F5 (FFIV)

Rolling One-Year Beta: 0.93

Originally named after the F5 tornado, the most powerful on the meteorological scale, F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) provides security and delivery solutions that protect applications across cloud, data center, and edge environments for large organizations.

Why Does FFIV Fall Short?

  1. ARR has averaged 9.4% declines over the last year, suggesting that competition is pulling attention away from its software
  2. Projected sales growth of 4.5% for the next 12 months suggests sluggish demand
  3. Capital intensity will likely ramp up in the next year as its free cash flow margin is expected to contract by 2.8 percentage points

At $317.98 per share, F5 trades at 5.8x forward price-to-sales. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than FFIV.

Anheuser-Busch (BUD)

Rolling One-Year Beta: 0.64

Born out of a complicated web of mergers and acquisitions, Anheuser-Busch InBev (NYSE: BUD) boasts a powerhouse beer portfolio of Budweiser, Stella Artois, Corona, and local favorites around the world.

Why Are We Wary of BUD?

  1. Scale is a double-edged sword because it limits the company’s growth potential compared to its smaller competitors, as reflected in its below-average annual revenue increases of 1.2% for the last three years
  2. Declining unit sales over the past two years show it’s struggled to move its products and had to rely on price increases
  3. Core business is underperforming as its organic revenue has disappointed over the past two years, suggesting it might need acquisitions to stimulate growth

Anheuser-Busch is trading at $61.48 per share, or 11.3x forward EV-to-EBITDA. To fully understand why you should be careful with BUD, check out our full research report (it’s free).

AECOM (ACM)

Rolling One-Year Beta: 0.74

Founded in 1990 when a group of engineers from five companies decided to merge, AECOM (NYSE: ACM) provides various infrastructure consulting services.

Why Does ACM Give Us Pause?

  1. Backlog has dropped by 2% on average over the past two years, suggesting it’s losing orders as competition picks up
  2. Competitive supply chain dynamics and steep production costs are reflected in its low gross margin of 6.6%
  3. Responsiveness to unforeseen market trends is restricted due to its substandard operating margin profitability

AECOM’s stock price of $121.30 implies a valuation ratio of 22.2x forward P/E. Check out our free in-depth research report to learn more about why ACM doesn’t pass our bar.

Stocks We Like More

When Trump unveiled his aggressive tariff plan in April 2025, markets tanked as investors feared a full-blown trade war. But those who panicked and sold missed the subsequent rebound that’s already erased most losses.

Don’t let fear keep you from great opportunities and take a look at 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-micro-cap company Tecnoglass (+1,754% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today

StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here.

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