Last month wasn’t a great one for the overall stock market, but it was a downright awful one for a handful of blue chip stocks.
Most investors understand oversized dips can be buying opportunities, but they should also recognize when jumping into a stumbling stock is a bad idea. The stocks’ current weakness may merely be an omen of what’s to come. How do you know the difference? You dig deeper and consider the bigger picture.
With that as the backdrop, here’s a closer look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average‘s (DJINDICES: ^DJI) biggest April losers. They may be blue chips, but that doesn’t necessarily make them great picks right now.
The Dow’s worst of the worst
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 5% last month. That setback doesn’t hold a candle to the losses some of its constituents suffered, though. Shares of Boeing (NYSE: BA), International Business Machines (NYSE: IBM), and Home Depot (NYSE: HD) each fell nearly 13% in April, while technology giant Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) watched its stock slide over 30%.
INTC Chart
What went wrong?
Aircraft maker Boeing’s shares lost altitude all month long. Its first-quarter results released in late April, however, ultimately validated that selling. Revenue fell 8% year over year as continued design and manufacturing problems with its newer 737 and 787 jets crimped demand. The company also booked a heavy loss of $355 million, reminding investors that these headaches aren’t mere nuisances — there’s a clear financial cost to them. Then, there’s the added disruption of an impending CEO switch. Current chief executive Dave Calhoun will be stepping down at the end of the year, but there’s already drama regarding who should replace him.
IBM’s setback is also mostly earnings-related, although the announcement it will be acquiring cloud software company HashiCorp didn’t help. First-quarter earnings of $1.68 per share topped estimates of $1.60, but revenue of $14.46 billion fell short of expectations of $14.55 billion. And while most analysts are generally bullish on the idea of folding HashiCorp into IBM’s existing cloud software…
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