The market's rattling investors these days, and with recessionary fears growing, it's easy to see why hundreds of stocks are hitting fresh lows. There were 566 stocks on the major stateside stock exchanges tapping 52-week lows last week, and some of the names might surprise you.
Glu Mobile (GLUU +0.00%), Texas Roadhouse (TXRH +0.32%), and Interface (TILE 0.18%) are trading at their lowest levels in more than a year, but it wasn't that long ago that they were hot investments. Let's go over the rise and fall of these three stocks.
Image source: Texas Roadhouse.
Glu Mobile
Mobile gamers can be fickle, but it always seems as if Glu Mobile finds a way to hold a hot hand. A few years ago -- when Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was peaking -- Glu managed to draw a large audience for Covet Fashion before scoring an even bigger hit with interior decorating simulator Design Home. Things feel different lately.
Glu Mobile stock was rocked earlier this month after hosing down its full-year guidance. It now sees $406 million to $410 million in bookings for all of 2019, well below the $445 million to $455 million it was targeting just three months ago. The same stock that wowed investors after soaring 88% in 2017 before going on to surge 122% in 2018 has now shed nearly half of its value in 2019. Those fickle casual gamers can be cruel.
Texas Roadhouse
There are a handful of restaurant stocks hitting new highs, but Texas Roadhouse isn't one of them. The casual-dining steakhouse chain is still growing, and unit-level comps remain positive. However, cost controls are eating into the chain's bottom line. Texas Roadhouse has beaten Wall Street's profit targets just once over the past four quarters.
Many eateries are cashing in on the booming apps that make it easy for third-party platforms to deliver restaurant takeout orders. This could -- and should -- be a way for the industry to drum up incremental sales, but Texas Roadhouse is in the market's doghouse. If there's a silver lining here, it's that the eatery's yield is up to nearly 2.5% now given the falling stock price.
Interface
With unemployment levels near historic lows, you would think that there wouldn't be a better time than now to be a leader in modular carpeting. Interface sells carpet tile that can be quickly pieced together, a popular flooring for offices and other commercial settings. A recent acquisition of a rubber flooring specialist gives it a foot in the door of hospitals, schools, and other institutions that require more durable solutions.
The acquisition is padding reported growth, but Interface still disappointed investors with organic growth slowing to a 2% clip in its latest report. With trade war concerns bubbling up recessionary fears, it's also easy to see why investors aren't getting excited about a flooring company that wasn't growing so well organically even when the economy was humming along. The stock hit a seven-year low last week, and now it's a matter of trying to find a floor for a flooring stock.
