3 Stocks Chopped in Half: Why These Drops May Be Structural, Not a Dip

Key Points

• lululemon, The Trade Desk, and Charter Communications have each seen their stock prices fall more than 50% due to structural business declines, not temporary setbacks.
• lululemon faces an 8% drop in North American comparable sales as it loses market share to premium athleisure rivals like Alo Yoga, with no quick turnaround in sight.
• Trade Desk's revenue growth has stalled to just 3% with guidance now projecting its first-ever year-over-year sales decline, while Charter continues losing broadband subscribers and revenue per user.

When you see a popular brand's stock down 50%, you may feel a deep-seated urge to buy the dip. Ubiquitous companies don’t just fade away; a rebound is on the horizon, and the stock is probably cheap, right? Well, you might want to check with Nike Inc. NYSE: NKE investors before assuming that what goes down must also go back up. The wheels of capitalism never stop churning, and newer, leaner competitors often send formerly successful businesses to the trash bin. And yes, sometimes even your favorite brands are affected.

Not long ago, lululemon athletica NASDAQ: LULU was a premium athleisure brand, The Trade Desk Inc. NASDAQ: TTD was a leading ad-buying platform, and Charter Communications Inc. NASDAQ: CHTR was one of the largest broadband operators in the U.S. But now their stocks have all fallen at least 50%, and it's not because of a bad quarter or a macro scare. Each company faces a structural decline, and the evidence keeps piling up quarter after quarter. Here’s why they’re losing market share, and what might have to happen for the stocks to bottom.

lululemon: High-End Brand Losing Its Premium

lululemon’s struggles are well documented, and the fiscal Q2 2026 report on Sept. 3 offered no relief to weary investors.

Revenue fell 4.3% year over year (YOY), and management again lowered sales guidance by 5% to 7%.

Earnings per share (EPS) beat expectations, but 86 cents per share came from one-time tariff refunds, which inflated the number well above consensus.

But the alarming metric is North American comp sales, which declined 8% YOY. The Americas are lululemon’s largest market, and continued declines here point to a core customer problem.

The company is losing market share to premium athleisure brands like Alo Yoga, and other major athletic apparel companies aren’t seeing as steep a decline in revenue and comp sales.

Falling comps and guidance cuts mean earnings will likely keep moving in the wrong direction, and there won’t be a tariff refund in Q3 to buoy the results.

The stock plummeted 18% after the earnings release, adding evidence that the 50-day moving average is the new primary resistance level. LULU's year-to-date (YTD) drop has now reached 55%, and the relative strength index (RSI) still hasn’t dipped below the oversold threshold of 30. It will be tough to call a bottom in LULU until American comps improve, and the company stops cutting guidance.

Trade Desk: The Growth Story Is Over

Trade Desk shares have sunk faster than the Philadelphia Eagles' playoff chances.

The stock is down more than 65% YTD, a stunning decline for a company that was a top performer in the post-COVID years.

But despite the drop, the stock still trades at 24 times forward earnings, which highlights the key issue: Trade Desk is still priced as a growth stock, and that growth has stalled.

Revenue grew just 3% YOY to $715 million in the most recent quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $752 million by nearly 5%. Net margins dropped from 13% to 9%, and operating expenses grew 6%.

But worst of all, fiscal Q3 2026 guidance calls for just $650 million in revenue, the first projected YOY sales decline in the firm’s history as a public company.

Customer retention remains 95%, but the revenue decline shows that retained clients are spending less, which is a far worse sign for a growth stock than losing a few wishy-washy customers.

Both the RSI and MACD indicators show strong bearish momentum on the daily chart. Both the signal and MACD lines are below the histogram, and an RSI of 37 means extreme bearishness. The downtrend should remain strong through the Q4 2026 report on Nov. 5, when the company can potentially update its putrid guidance.

Charter: Losses Continue to Accelerate

Charter Communications doesn’t offer revenue or earnings guidance, but it does report revenue per user and subscriber growth projections, which give us an idea of where future sales are headed.

And as you might have guessed, these figures aren’t heading in the right direction either. Charter lost 172,000 broadband internet customers in fiscal Q2 2026, up from 116,000 lost in Q2 2025. Mobile subscriber growth also slowed to 406,000 line adds, down from 491,000 a year ago. Total revenue beat consensus but fell 1.7% YOY, and the stock hit a 52-week low after the report was released on July 24.

The company can absorb subscriber losses if it increases revenue per user, but that figure is also slowing.

Charter reported broadband revenue per user of $70.16, which is down both sequentially and YOY. Losing subscribers and earning less from those who stay is the main reason the stock has seen a wave of analyst downgrades over the last few weeks. The average price target remains $202, representing more than 90% upside from current levels. But this likely means more analyst price target cuts are ahead, not that the stock is undervalued.

CHTR shares appeared to be stabilizing before the fiscal Q1 2026 report drove the stock down 25% in a single day. The stock had briefly peaked above the 200-day moving average for the first time since July 2025, but poor results once again energized bearish momentum.

The stock now trades below both the 200-day and 50-day moving averages, with the 50-day acting as resistance. A bearish MACD crossover confirmed accelerating downward momentum, and Charter will need to show that subscriber attrition is slowing and revenue-per-user metrics are improving before this trend reverses. The company reports its Q3 2026 results on Oct. 30.