3 Unpopular Stocks with Questionable Fundamentals
Wall Street’s bearish price targets for the stocks in this article signal serious concerns. Such forecasts are uncommon in an industry where maintaining cordial corporate relationships often trumps delivering the hard truth.
Whatever the consensus opinion may be, our team at StockStory cuts through the noise by conducting independent analysis to determine a company’s long-term prospects. That said, here are three stocks facing legitimate challenges and some alternatives worth exploring instead.
onsemi (ON)
Consensus Price Target: $59.47 (-4.1% implied return)
Spun out of Motorola in 1999 and built through a series of acquisitions, onsemi (NASDAQ:ON) is a global provider of analog chips specializing in autos, industrial applications, and power management in cloud data centers.
Why Does ON Worry Us?
- Sales tumbled by 13.9% annually over the last two years, showing market trends are working against its favor during this cycle
- Sales are projected to be flat over the next 12 months and imply weak demand
- Gross margin of 41.2% reflects its high production costs
onsemi’s stock price of $62.03 implies a valuation ratio of 22.8x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than ON.
VF Corp (VFC)
Consensus Price Target: $17.11 (-10.9% implied return)
Owner of The North Face, Vans, and Supreme, VF Corp (NYSE:VFC) is a clothing conglomerate specializing in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories.
Why Do We Avoid VFC?
- Underwhelming constant currency revenue performance over the past two years suggests its product offering at current prices doesn’t resonate with customers
- Shrinking returns on capital from an already weak position reveal that neither previous nor ongoing investments are yielding the desired results
- High net-debt-to-EBITDA ratio of 6× could force the company to raise capital at unfavorable terms if market conditions deteriorate
At $19.20 per share, VF Corp trades at 23.5x forward P/E. If you’re considering VFC for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.
Triumph Financial (TFIN)
Consensus Price Target: $65 (-1.1% implied return)
Originally focused on traditional banking before pivoting to serve the transportation sector, Triumph Financial (NASDAQ:TFIN) provides specialized financial services to the trucking industry, including payments processing, factoring, banking, and data intelligence solutions.
Why Do We Think TFIN Will Underperform?
- 5.4% annual net interest income growth over the last five years was slower than its banking peers
- Net interest margin shrank by 130.7 basis points (100 basis points = 1 percentage point) over the last two years, suggesting the profitability of its loan book is decreasing or the market is becoming more competitive
- Incremental sales over the last five years were much less profitable as its earnings per share fell by 22.1% annually while its revenue grew
Triumph Financial is trading at $65.69 per share, or 1.8x forward P/B. To fully understand why you should be careful with TFIN, check out our full research report (it’s free for active Edge members).
Stocks We Like More
Your portfolio can’t afford to be based on yesterday’s story. The risk in a handful of heavily crowded stocks is rising daily.
The names generating the next wave of massive growth are right here in our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 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.