3 Inflated Stocks with Open Questions

The stocks in this article are all trading near their 52-week highs. This strength often reflects positive developments such as new product launches, favorable industry trends, or improved financial performance.

While momentum can be a leading indicator, it has burned many investors as it doesn’t always correlate with long-term success. All that said, here are three stocks getting more buzz than they deserve and some you should buy instead.

Burlington (BURL)

One-Month Return: +8.6%

Founded in 1972 as a discount coat and outerwear retailer, Burlington Stores (NYSE:BURL) is now an off-price retailer that has broadened into general apparel, footwear, and home goods.

Why Are We Hesitant About BURL?

1. Large revenue base makes it harder to increase sales quickly, and its annual revenue growth of 8% over the last six years was below our standards for the consumer retail sector
2. Free cash flow margin shrank by 7.5 percentage points over the last year, suggesting the company is consuming more capital to stay competitive
3. Below-average returns on capital indicate management struggled to find compelling investment opportunities

Burlington is trading at $271.26 per share, or 28.3x forward P/E. If you’re considering BURL for your portfolio, see our FREE research report to learn more.

JLL (JLL)

One-Month Return: +8.3%

Founded in 1999 through the merger of Jones Lang Wootton and LaSalle Partners, JLL (NYSE:JLL) is a company specializing in real estate advisory and investment management services.

Why Are We Out on JLL?

1. Large revenue base makes it harder to increase sales quickly, and its annual revenue growth of 6.9% over the last five years was below our standards for the consumer discretionary sector
2. Ability to fund investments or reward shareholders with increased buybacks or dividends is restricted by its weak free cash flow margin of 2.2% for the last two years
3. ROIC of 7.8% reflects management’s challenges in identifying attractive investment opportunities, and its decreasing returns suggest its historical profit centers are aging

JLL’s stock price of $278.21 implies a valuation ratio of 15.6x forward P/E. Dive into our free research report to see why there are better opportunities than JLL.

John Bean (JBTM)

One-Month Return: +1.9%

Tracing back to its invention of the mechanical milk bottle filler in 1884, John Bean (NYSE:JBT) designs, manufactures, and sells equipment used for food processing and aviation.

Why Does JBTM Give Us Pause?

1. Organic revenue growth fell short of our benchmarks over the past two years and implies it may need to improve its products, pricing, or go-to-market strategy
2. Day-to-day expenses have swelled relative to revenue over the last five years as its operating margin fell by 6.1 percentage points
3. ROIC of 6.8% reflects management’s challenges in identifying attractive investment opportunities

At $135.74 per share, John Bean trades at 20.3x forward P/E. Read our free research report to see why you should think twice about including JBTM in your portfolio.

High-Quality Stocks for All Market Conditions

Donald Trump’s April 2025 "Liberation Day" tariffs sent markets into a tailspin, but stocks have since rebounded strongly, proving that knee-jerk reactions often create the best buying opportunities.

The smart money is already positioning for the next leg up. Don’t miss out on the recovery - check out our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025).

Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 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 for free. Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Find your next big winner with StockStory today

StockStory is growing and hiring equity analyst and marketing roles. Are you a 0 to 1 builder passionate about the markets and AI? See the open roles here.