
The S&P 500 (^GSPC) is often seen as a benchmark for strong businesses, but that doesn’t mean every stock is worth owning. Some companies face significant challenges, whether it’s stagnating growth, heavy debt, or disruptive new competitors.
Even among blue-chip stocks, not all investments are created equal - which is why we built StockStory to help you navigate the market. Keeping that in mind, here is one S&P 500 stock that is leading the market forward and two best left off your watchlist.
Market Cap: $22.69 billion
Best known for its Arm & Hammer baking soda, Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) is a household and personal care products company with a vast portfolio that spans laundry detergent to toothbrushes to hair removal creams.
Why Does CHD Worry Us?
At $95.72 per share, Church & Dwight trades at 25.4x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than CHD.
Market Cap: $11.47 billion
With a history dating back to 1931 and products used in over 100 countries, Baxter International (NYSE:BAX) provides essential healthcare products including dialysis therapies, IV solutions, infusion systems, surgical products, and patient monitoring technologies to hospitals and clinics worldwide.
Why Should You Dump BAX?
Baxter is trading at $21.99 per share, or 11.2x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including BAX in your portfolio.
Market Cap: $61.87 billion
Born from the 2015 split of the iconic Silicon Valley pioneer Hewlett-Packard, Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) provides edge-to-cloud technology solutions that help businesses capture, analyze, and act upon their data across hybrid IT environments.
Why Will HPE Beat the Market?
Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s stock price of $48.85 implies a valuation ratio of 11.6x forward P/E. Is now the right time to buy? Find out in our full research report, it’s free.
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-small-cap company Exlservice (+271% between June 2020 and June 2025). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.