While the current broad market sell-off dominates headlines, there's still value in looking at specific laggards from the major indexes. 

Among the blue-chip-laden Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI -1.30%), the two worst-performing stocks in the month of February were UnitedHealth Group (UNH 0.09%) and Salesforce (CRM -4.51%). They declined 12.5% and 12.8% last month, respectively, versus the Dow's much more modest dip of 1.6%.

Data by YCharts.

UnitedHealth's woes started early in February following hedge fund manager Bill Ackman's now-deleted post on social media website X, where he questioned the health insurer's reported profits and suggested the stock was a short-selling candidate. Less than two weeks later, its sell-off accelerated on news that its planned merger with Amedisys may be in jeopardy. At the same time, UnitedHealth is resisting shareholders' efforts to force more transparency regarding costs linked to delaying and denying care.

The bulk of February's loss took shape late in the month, however, when it was confirmed the Department of Justice has begun investigations into UnitedHealth's Medicare billing practices.

Salesforce's story is far simpler. Its stock drifted lower for the better part of the month in anticipation of its fiscal 2025 fourth quarter results. Management ended up providing disappointing revenue guidance with top-line growth of 7.5% to $40.7 billion for fiscal 2026. Analysts were modeling $41.4 billion for the year. The technology company's artificial intelligence efforts are compelling -- they just aren't making a meaningful contribution to the software company's growth yet.

Obviously, investors don't wish to own any stock that's losing ground. However, pullbacks can be buying opportunities. That's arguably the case for Salesforce at this time, but UnitedHealth seems increasingly plagued by uncertainty, most of which works against the stock.