Should You Buy Stocks That Everyone Hates?

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Should You Buy Stocks That Everyone Hates? By: Marc Guberti Marc Guberti Marc Guberti is a personal finance writer who hosts Breakthrough Success, a podcast where he teaches listeners how to grow their businesses and achieve personal transformations. Has also written: Ray Dalio’s ‘All-Weather’ Portfolio Strategy to Help Protect Retirement Savings 10 Costly Gold Mistakes Investors Make — and How to Avoid Them How to Add Gold to a Retirement Portfolio Using the Bucket Strategy How Investing $100 a Week Can Turn Into $10,000 in Just Two Years Ray Dalio’s One Rule for Smarter Investing — And Why It Works in Every Market See full bio Published: Mar 9, 2026 4 min read Money is not a client of any investment adviser featured on this page. The information provided on this page is for educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice. Money does not offer advisory services.

Getty Images Contrarian investors zig when others zag. They look for neglected stocks that have been out of favor in recent months or years and use them as buying opportunities. However, these investors don’t buy a stock just because its price is dropping. Investors who completely ignore fundamentals could end up with a losing portfolio. Must ReadExperts are Bullish on Gold — Here's How to Get InWhy Retirees Are Turning to Gold as a Buffer Against Stock Market LossesWarren Buffett on Market Volatility — and 3 Ways You Can Take Advantage Contrarian investing rules to follow Warren Buffett, legendary investor and the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, is a well-known contrarian investor. But investing like Buffett — or any of the pros — is a big challenge. Here are three things to keep in mind. 1. Focus on the long-term If you’re going to buy a stock that other investors aren’t, you want it to grow in price over the long-term. That means negative sentiment around a contrarian stock must be temporary, such as due to short-term macroeconomic issues, political backlash or an earnings report in which the company missed guidance. These headwinds are not necessarily structural issues, and when they get resolved, the stock could extend its rally. Contrarian investors ask if the long-term catalysts are intact. Some corporations strengthen their growth prospects while their stock prices fall. This type of mismatch fuels negative sentiment and presents a long-term opportunity for savvy investors.

Gold Investor Kit Offer: Sign up with American Hartford Gold today and get a free investor kit, plus receive up to $20,000 in free silver on qualifying purchases 2. Look for strong fundamentals If investors are selling a stock because the company has poor underlying fundamentals, that’s likely not a stock you want to buy. You can assess metrics to get a sense of a company’s financial health. For example, the current ratio compares a company’s current assets against its current liabilities. Contrarian investors, like value investors, are often looking for strong companies that are being undervalued. Free Trade: Check out Robinhood's online trading platform and get the first trade on them 3. Be patient Contrarian investing often requires patience, since you may be holding on to a stock and waiting for its price to turn around for a significant chunk of time. Extra Money: Get up to $1,000 in stock when you fund a new active SoFi invest account Why contrarian investing isn’t for everyone You don’t have to hunt for bargains and be a contrarian investor to reach your long-term financial objectives — and in fact, the strategy won’t work for many average investors. A much simpler approach is to buy a diversified index fund. These funds offer exposure to many assets and come at low costs. Diversified index funds also eliminate the need to learn about complex ways to value stocks and determine which investments present compelling upsides. Contrarian investing is only profitable if you are right about the fundamental business. Not everyone can do enough research to validate their convictions, and picking the undervalued stocks that are going to take off is difficult even for Wall Street pros. Must ReadExperts are Bullish on Gold — Here's How to Get InWhy Retirees Are Turning to Gold as a Buffer Against Stock Market LossesWarren Buffett on Market Volatility — and 3 Ways You Can Take Advantage