If you're looking for market-beating stocks, it can sometimes be good to travel a bit off the beaten path to find more unusual options. Innovative Industrial Properties (IIPR -7.61%) offers just such an option.
The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) is cooling off after rip-roaring gains of over 20% in both 2023 and 2024.
After starting with gains across the board, the markets have turned mixed, with the Nasdaq Composite lagging the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500.
After remarkable performances in 2023 and 2024, the Nasdaq Composite seems to have hit a roadblock in 2025. The technology-heavy index closed at 17,436.10 on March 11, or 13.6% below its all-time high of 20,173.89 on Dec. 16 last year.
With the S&P 500 and Nasdaq in correction territory, you may not be feeling very optimistic about investing. But now is actually an excellent time to buy stocks because many of yesterday's highfliers are today's dirt cheap deals.
Less than three months ago, the Nasdaq Composite hit an all-time high, continuing a solid run that began two years ago. Since that mark, the index is down over 13%, including a 9% drop this year, and is in correction mode (as of March 11).
Bear markets can happen quickly. One day, the stock market is trading at all-time highs, and the next thing you know, your portfolio is in a 20% drawdown.
It's been a long time since investors have had to face the reality that stock prices can, indeed, decline. You have to go back all the way to Oct. 2023 to find the last time one of the major stock indexes fell more than 10% from its all-time high, marking what's known as a correction.
The Nasdaq Composite has had a dream run in the past two years, buoyed by declining inflation, interest rate cuts, and a solid artificial intelligence (AI) boom. However, that momentum seems lost now, considering the tech-heavy index has declined about 10% in 2025.
The Nasdaq-100 is made up of 100 of the largest nonfinancial companies listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange. It has delivered a return of 343% over the past decade, doubling the gain of the more diversified S&P 500 thanks to its high concentration of the world's largest tech stocks.
With the Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC 2.61%) down roughly 12% from its highs, many tech-related stocks have sold off heavily.
The stock market recently dipped into correction territory, which is defined as a decline of 10% to 20% from its recent peak. At the time of this writing, the Nasdaq Composite is down 9% year-to-date.