Stocks in the $10-50 range offer a sweet spot between affordability and stability as they’re typically more established than penny stocks. But their headline prices don’t guarantee quality, and investors should exercise caution as some have shaky business models.
Luckily for you, our mission at StockStory is to help you make money and avoid losses by sorting the winners from the losers. Keeping that in mind, here are three stocks under $50 to avoid and some other investments you should consider instead.
PagerDuty (PD)
Share Price: $11.36
Born from the frustration of developers being woken up by unprioritized alerts, PagerDuty (NYSE: PD) is a digital operations management platform that helps organizations detect and respond to IT incidents, outages, and other critical issues in real-time.
Why Are We Cautious About PD?
- Average billings growth of 3.8% over the last year was subpar, suggesting it struggled to push its software and might have to lower prices to stimulate demand
- Estimated sales growth of 2.7% for the next 12 months implies demand will slow from its two-year trend
- Suboptimal cost structure is highlighted by its history of operating margin losses
At $11.36 per share, PagerDuty trades at 2.1x forward price-to-sales. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than PD.
Reynolds (REYN)
Share Price: $23.50
Best known for its aluminum foil, Reynolds (NASDAQ: REYN) is a household products company whose products focus on food storage, cooking, and waste.
Why Do We Think REYN Will Underperform?
- Falling unit sales over the past two years imply it may need to invest in product improvements to get back on track
- Sales are projected to be flat over the next 12 months and imply weak demand
- Capital intensity has ramped up over the last year as its free cash flow margin decreased by 4.5 percentage points
Reynolds’s stock price of $23.50 implies a valuation ratio of 14x forward P/E. To fully understand why you should be careful with REYN, check out our full research report (it’s free).
CSX (CSX)
Share Price: $37.72
Established as part of the Chessie System and Seaboard Coast Line Industries merger, CSX (NASDAQ: CSX) is a transportation company specializing in freight rail services.
Why Do We Avoid CSX?
- Weak unit sales over the past two years indicate demand is soft and that the company may need to revise its strategy
- Earnings per share decreased by more than its revenue over the last two years, showing each sale was less profitable
- 18 percentage point decline in its free cash flow margin over the last five years reflects the company’s increased investments to defend its market position
CSX is trading at $37.72 per share, or 19.9x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including CSX in your portfolio.
Stocks We Like More
If your portfolio success hinges on just 4 stocks, your wealth is built on fragile ground. You have a small window to secure high-quality assets before the market widens and these prices disappear.
Don’t wait for the next volatility shock. Check out our Top 5 Growth Stocks for this month. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 244% over the last five years (as of June 30, 2025).
Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,326% between June 2020 and June 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Exlservice (+354% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today.
