Laggard

What is ‘Laggard’

A stock or security that is underperforming. A laggard will have lower-than-average returns compared to the market. A laggard is the opposite of a leader.

Explaining ‘Laggard’

In most cases, a laggard refers to a stock. The term can also, however, describe a company or individual that has been underperforming. It is often used to describe good vs. bad, as in “leaders vs. laggards”. Investors want to avoid laggards, because they achieve less-than-desired rates of return.

Further Reading

  • Environmental policy implementation during the economic crisis: an analysis of European member state 'leader-laggard'dynamics – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • South Pacific tax havens: From leaders in the race to the bottom to laggards in the race to the top? – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Corporate responsibility in the global village: The British role model and the American laggard – onlinelibrary.wiley.com [PDF]
  • Debate: From trendsetter to laggard? Quango reform in the UK – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Reasons for the Laggard Rural Compulsory Education from the Perspective of Fiscal Decentralization [J] – en.cnki.com.cn [PDF]
  • Italy and the south of the world: still a laggard in international development? – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • From laggard to leader: Explaining offshore wind developments in the UK – www.sciencedirect.com [PDF]
  • A laggard in good times and bad? The limited impact of EU membership on Ireland's climate change and environmental policy – www.tandfonline.com [PDF]
  • Korea's Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Unsung Heroes or Economic Laggards? – journals.aom.org [PDF]