1-Star Stocks Poised to Plunge: Overstock?

Based on the aggregated intelligence of 160,000-plus investors participating in Motley Fool CAPS, the Fool's free investing community, online retailer Overstock.com (Nasdaq: OSTK) has received the dreaded one-star ranking.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at Overstock's business and see what CAPS investors are saying about the stock right now.

Overstock facts

Sources: Capital IQ (a division of Standard & Poor's) and Motley Fool CAPS.

On CAPS, 71% of the 1,104 members who have rated Overstock believe the stock will underperform the S&P 500 going forward. These bears include All-Star edwjm, who is ranked in the top 1% of our community, and jed71.

Just last month, edwjm wrote that the rally in Overstock seemed overdone: "The recent run-up in Overstock... is excessive. At the current price ... the p/e is over 58 and there is no dividend."

In a pitch from the same day, jed71 echoes that bearishness. Here's an excerpt:

As you can imagine, they sport some pretty horrific numbers. Having just come off its first profitable year, [Overstock] sports a P/E of 61, a debt to equity of more than 5, and a price to book of nearly 40. Cash flow performance has been spotty at best...

They sell things that other stores have not been able to rid themselves of. What makes [Overstock] think they can do any better? From the short time I spent surfing their website, I saw quite a bit of junk; discontinued merchandise, old and outdated products, items of which most consumers would thumb their noses at. Most items seemed to be either overpriced or well past their useful life.

What do you think about Overstock, or any other stock for that matter? If you want to retire rich, you need to protect your portfolio from any undue risk. Staying away from dangerous stocks is crucial to securing your financial future, and on Motley Fool CAPS, thousands of investors are working every day to flag them. CAPS is 100% free, so get started!