Market swings can be tough to stomach, and volatile stocks often experience exaggerated moves in both directions. While many thrive during risk-on environments, many also struggle to maintain investor confidence when the ride gets bumpy.
Navigating these stocks isn’t easy, which is why StockStory helps you find Comfort In Chaos. Keeping that in mind, here are three volatile stocks to avoid and some better opportunities instead.
Sunrun (RUN)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 2.08
Helping homeowners use solar energy to power their homes, Sunrun (NASDAQ: RUN) provides residential solar electricity, specializing in panel installation and leasing services.
Why Does RUN Fall Short?
- Persistent operating margin losses suggest the business manages its expenses poorly
- Negative free cash flow raises questions about the return timeline for its investments
At $7.61 per share, Sunrun trades at 7.8x forward P/E. If you’re considering RUN for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.
Insperity (NSP)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 1.55
Pioneering the professional employer organization (PEO) industry it helped establish, Insperity (NYSE: NSP) provides human resources outsourcing services to small and medium-sized businesses, handling payroll, benefits, compliance, and HR administration.
Why Is NSP Not Exciting?
- Annual revenue growth of 2.5% over the last two years was below our standards for the business services sector
- Expenses have increased as a percentage of revenue over the last five years as its adjusted operating margin fell by 3.6 percentage points
- Incremental sales over the last five years were much less profitable as its earnings per share fell by 27.1% annually while its revenue grew
Insperity is trading at $47.55 per share, or 20x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including NSP in your portfolio.
LendingTree (TREE)
Rolling One-Year Beta: 2.08
Using the same comparison model that revolutionized travel booking, LendingTree (NASDAQ: TREE) operates an online platform that connects consumers with financial service providers across mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, insurance, and other financial products.
Why Do We Think Twice About TREE?
- Estimated sales growth of 6.9% for the next 12 months implies demand will slow from its three-year trend
- Excessive marketing spend signals little organic demand and traction for its platform
- Free cash flow margin has shown no improvement over the last few years
LendingTree’s stock price of $24.50 implies a valuation ratio of 4.2x forward EV/EBITDA. To fully understand why you should be careful with TREE, check out our full research report (it’s free).
Stocks We Like More
ONE MORE THING: Top 5 Growth Stocks. The biggest stock winners almost always had one thing in common before they ran. Revenue growing like crazy. Meta. CrowdStrike. Broadcom. Our AI flagged all three. They returned 315%, 314%, and 455%, respectively.
Find out which 5 stocks it’s flagging this month — FREE. Get Our Top 5 Growth Stocks for Free HERE.
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,460% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-micro-cap company Kadant (+214% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
