In contrast, secular decline is when an industry's support slowly dwindles away. This can play out over many decades. The U.S. tobacco industry is a prime example of an industry in secular decline since cigarette smoking in the U.S. has become much less popular over the past few decades.
Secular market explained
The best companies for investors are helped by secular growth trends. Even with the cyclical nature of many businesses, companies in secularly growing industries are well-positioned to thrive over the long term. Secular trends occur over many years or even decades, while economic cycles are generally shorter.
Companies that benefit from secular growth trends are best able to retain value regardless of the current state of the economy. Secular growth trends enable the stocks of those companies to quickly continue gaining value following periods of market uncertainty (known as a secular bull market). As the saying goes, ultra-long-term winning stocks continue to make higher highs as well as higher lows during market downturns.
Industries in secular decline will often feature stocks focused on returning cash to shareholders as revenue growth tapers off and then starts to slowly decrease. Eventually, these stocks may start to slowly decline in value over time -- a secular bear market.