August was chock-full of negative news for stocks. A single month is nothing, though. Try many quarters -- even years -- of pessimism, as Macy's (NYSE: M), Urban Outfitters (NASDAQ: URBN), and Axos Financial (NYSE: AX) shareholders have endured. Bad news has tanked all three stocks in the past year.
But bad news often spells opportunity for investors who look beyond the headlines at the underlying business opportunity. Stocks are, after all, shares of businesses with the ability to dynamically adapt to changes in the economy, other business and consumer habits, and more. Thus, though the market has been unkind to Macy's, Urban Outfitters, and Axos Financial, three Foolish contributors think they're cheap and worth a look right now.
Nicholas Rossolillo (Macy's): Big changes in retail have given the department store industry a serious black eye. Slow to pick up on the rise of online shopping and dealing with rising competition from big-box stores that have upped their game, department stores have seen their sales in steady decline for years; sales are down another 4% so far in 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.