If you're a bargain-shopping investor, there's certainly no shortage of discounts to consider right now. Even a handful of high-quality blue chips are on sale. Namely, Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJINDICES: ^DJI) components Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), The Travelers Companies (NYSE: TRV), and IBM (NYSE: IBM) lost ground in July despite the Dow's 7% gain during the month.

Before plowing into the Dow's biggest losers in July just because they're on sale, however, take a step back and reconsider. One bad calendar month doesn't inherently make these stocks any more investment-worthy than they were as of the end of June.

The sell-offs make enough sense in and of themselves. Verizon lost 215,000 (net) postpaid consumer wireless accounts, up-ending the stock. IBM scaled back its cash flow outlook for the full year. Insurance company Travelers managed to top its second-quarter earnings estimates, but still reported a drastic tumble in its profits due to soaring catastrophic claims linked to the COVID-19 pandemic. Those reports took anywhere between 6% and 9% off these stocks' values during July, and understandably so.

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Source Fool.com