A stock with low volatility can be reassuring, but it doesn’t always mean strong long-term performance. Investors who prioritize stability may miss out on higher-reward opportunities elsewhere.
Luckily for you, StockStory helps you navigate which companies are truly worth holding. That said, here is one low-volatility stock providing safe-and-steady growth and two stuck in limbo.
Two Stocks to Sell:
Expeditors (EXPD)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 0.50
Expeditors (NYSE:EXPD) offers air and ocean freight as well as brokerage services.
Why Do We Avoid EXPD?
- Annual sales declines of 14.1% for the past two years show its products and services struggled to connect with the market during this cycle
- Earnings per share have dipped by 11.3% annually over the past two years, which is concerning because stock prices follow EPS over the long term
- Eroding returns on capital suggest its historical profit centers are aging
Expeditors’s stock price of $111.57 implies a valuation ratio of 20.6x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than EXPD.
Toll Brothers (TOL)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 0.82
Started by two brothers who started by building and selling just one home in Pennsylvania, today Toll Brothers (NYSE:TOL) is a luxury homebuilder across the United States.
Why Is TOL Not Exciting?
- Product roadmap and go-to-market strategy need to be reconsidered as its backlog has averaged 4.6% declines over the past two years
- Demand will likely be soft over the next 12 months as Wall Street’s estimates imply tepid growth of 1.9%
- Free cash flow margin shrank by 15.8 percentage points over the last five years, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive
Toll Brothers is trading at $108.21 per share, or 7.5x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with TOL, check out our full research report (it’s free).
One Stock to Buy:
MercadoLibre (MELI)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 0.80
Originally started as an online auction platform, MercadoLibre (NASDAQ:MELI) is a one-stop e-commerce marketplace and fintech platform in Latin America.
Why Will MELI Beat the Market?
- Unique Active Buyers have grown by 19.7% annually, allowing for more profitable cross-selling opportunities if it can build complementary products and features
- Strong engagement trends coupled with 16.9% annual growth in its average revenue per user demonstrate its platform’s stickiness with die-hard customers
- Impressive free cash flow profitability enables the company to fund new investments or reward investors with share buybacks/dividends, and its recently improved profitability means it has even more resources to invest or distribute
At $2,556 per share, MercadoLibre trades at 29.9x forward EV/EBITDA. Is now a good time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.
Stocks We Like Even More
Market indices reached historic highs following Donald Trump’s presidential victory in November 2024, but the outlook for 2025 is clouded by new trade policies that could impact business confidence and growth.
While this has caused many investors to adopt a "fearful" wait-and-see approach, we’re leaning into our best ideas that can grow regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate. Take advantage of Mr. Market by checking out our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. 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 Kadant (+351% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today for free.