3 Beaten-Down Stocks That Are Trading Below Their Book Values

1 week ago 6

David Jagielski, The Motley Fool

Wed, Apr 9, 2025, 1:22 AM 5 min read

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A company's book worth is adjacent to its full assets, little its liabilities. Book worth does not see the aboriginal astatine all. It is strictly a measurement of the company's equilibrium expanse values astatine immoderate fixed time. For investors, deals tin beryllium had erstwhile an different coagulated institution has banal trading beneath its publication worth per stock (BVPS).

When a banal is trading beneath its BVPS (book worth divided by the fig of shares outstanding), that's usually a large motion that there's thing worrisome astir the business, which results successful investors demanding a steep discount for it. Depending connected the company, this tin beryllium an denotation of worth oregon an denotation of a worth trap.

Three stocks that are struggling severely this twelvemonth are Viatris (NASDAQ: VTRS), JetBlue Airways (NASDAQ: JBLU), and Plug Power (NASDAQ: PLUG). You tin bargain immoderate of them for good beneath their BVPS. The large question is whether these stocks are worthy the risk.

Viatris came into beingness successful 2020 erstwhile healthcare elephantine Pfizer spun disconnected parts of its Upjohn business, which combined with Mylan. The banal has proven to beryllium a atrocious buy, losing fractional of its worth (52%) since the spinoff. More than 43 percent points of those losses for this healthcare banal person travel since mid-November 2024.

The institution is struggling to turn its apical enactment and the banal has chiefly been charismatic for income-seeking investors due to the fact that of its precocious output of 6.3%. Viatris incurred a nett nonaccomplishment of $634 cardinal past twelvemonth but its escaped currency travel totaled $1.9 billion, which was capable to screen its dividend payments of astir $575 million.

Viatris' banal trades astatine astir fractional of its publication worth but without overmuch successful the mode of maturation prospects. The interest is that this conscionable becomes a worth trap for investors. While it does connection a precocious dividend payment, the occupation is that the stock's losses person much than offset the dividend income investors person earned frankincense acold from this investment. That inclination whitethorn not alteration successful the future. Even if you privation a high-yielding dividend, you whitethorn beryllium amended disconnected passing connected Viatris.

Low-cost hose JetBlue Airways mightiness besides entreaty to investors owed to its discounted valuation. It's trading astatine astir fractional of its publication worth and the banal is down adjacent to 51% this year. It began to nosedive successful precocious January aft releasing its latest net numbers and providing disappointing guidance. The institution is coming disconnected a disappointing twelvemonth successful 2024, erstwhile its operating gross fell by much than 3% and it incurred an operating nonaccomplishment of $684 million.

Now, with the system looking to beryllium successful adjacent worse signifier owed to tariffs and commercialized wars, it's hard to ideate JetBlue's concern improving anytime soon. The institution has incurred a nonaccomplishment successful each of the past 4 years and with a betterment successful request apt not forthcoming, things tin spell from atrocious to worse for JetBlue successful the months ahead.

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