We recently published a list of 12 Worst Depressed Stocks To Buy Now. In this article, we are going to take a look at where T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) stands against other worst depressed stocks to buy now.
Will the “Fed Put” Come into Play?
With the recent pressure on the equity market from tariffs the market has been wondering if the Fed Put will come into play. On March 20, Mike Wilson, Morgan Stanley CIO, and Chief U.S. equity strategist, joined CNBC to discuss the likelihood of interest rate cuts during the year and the overall market outlook. Morgan Stanley expects the year 2025 to have only a single rate cut, however, if the market slows down more than expected then the Fed Put will come into play with another rate cut. Wilson noted that the Fed is going to respond to lower growth, however, the question that remains unanswered is how will the Fed measure this growth. According to Wilson, the labor market is one of the indicators that the reserve is watching closely. Currently, most of the weakness in the labor market is in the government sector as the government is trying to shrink the sector. Wilson noted that if this move spills over to the private sector then there is no doubt that the Fed will respond to that with another rate cut.
Wilson further elaborated that investors are not concerned about the next 12 months, rather they are more curious to know the current market situation. He noted that Morgan Stanley’s view of the market coming into 2025 was that the first half would be tougher due to the high expectations and the government sequencing its policies. One other reason behind this was that market expectations were too high whereas the reality was somewhat different. Wilson noted that we entered this year when the Fed was cutting rates and the valuations were high, so the current market slowdowns are partly due to the much-needed market correction as well. He also noted that there is a growth deceleration going on with the AI capital expenditure as well, which Wilson believes is good as now the expectations are more aligned with reality. He elaborated that these are the reasons why the firm believes that the 5,500 for the S&P 500 is a good level.
Looking ahead to the second half of the year, Wilson acknowledged potential tailwinds from growth-positive policy changes like tax cuts, deregulation, and lower yields. However, he argued that these are too distant for markets to price in currently. He also emphasized that while a “Trump put” may not exist, the “Fed put” remains active but would likely require worsening conditions in labor markets or credit and funding markets, scenarios that would initially be negative for equities.
Our Methodology
To curate the list of 12 worst depressed stocks to buy now we used the Finviz stock screener, Yahoo Finance, and CNN. Using the screener we aggregated a list of stocks that have fallen more than 15% over the past 12 months and are currently trading within 0% to 3% of their 52-week lows. Next, from this aggregated list we shortlisted stocks with more than 20% analyst upside potential. Lastly, we ranked the stocks in descending order of the number of hedge funds that have stakes in them (from best to worst), as of Q4 2024. Please note that the data was recorded on March 19, 2025.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
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T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW)
52 Week Range: 91.37 – 125.81
Current Share Price: $93.04
Analyst Upside Potential: 17.15%
1-Year Performance: -18.63%
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 33
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) is a global financial services holding company specializing in investment management and advisory services. It offers a broad range of investment solutions, including equity, fixed-income, multi-asset, and alternative strategies. Its services are tailored for various clients such as individuals, advisors, institutions, and retirement plan sponsors.
On March 13, Analyst Michael Brown from Wells Fargo maintained a Hold rating on the stock, with a price target of $116. This decision reflects mixed market conditions and challenges faced by the company, particularly a 1.4% decline in assets under management (AUM) in February 2025. The analyst noted that the drop was driven by a weak US equity market and net outflows of $4.7 billion, with significant outflows from US mutual funds, which are a core part of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.’s (NASDAQ:TROW) business. Moreover, despite some positive trends, including strong inflows into ETFs and target date funds, the company’s high exposure to equities, especially growth-oriented funds, has been a headwind amid recent market volatility. The company is currently trading close to its 52-week low, thereby ranking as one of the worst depressed stocks to buy now.
Lindsell Train stated the following regarding T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) in its Q3 2024 investor letter:
“T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:TROW) is the only asset manager held in your Fund. The headwinds to this industry, notably the long-term shift to passive and resultant fee pressures, are well known, leading to mouthwatering valuations for what can be extremely profitable companies. In our view T. Rowe stands out with trillion-dollar scale, exceptional margins, and a long track-record of headwind-defying growth, affording it a place in our portfolio since inception. Its shares, however, have not been stellar performers over this four-year+ period, returning just c.30% in USD vs. the MSCI North America’s c.120%. In this month’s update we outline our reasons for continued optimism.
Founded back in 1937 by renowned growth investor Thomas Rowe Price Jr. (a pioneer of basing fees on assets), the eponymous T. Rowe Price is now one of the biggest active managers in the US with $1.6tn under management. This gives it the rare attributes of heritage, a resonant brand, and vast scale. With costs generally fixed (excepting c.30% of variable compensation) asset management thrives on operating leverage, with T. Rowe no exception, leveraging its scale to deliver at least 30% operating margins every year for three decades. Returns to equity bound between 20-and 30%, and with over $2bn of net cash on the balance sheet, almost all earnings are returned to shareholders via buybacks and a generous 4.5% dividend yield…” (Click here to read the full text)
Overall, TROW ranks 4th on our list of worst depressed stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of TROW as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than TROW but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.