If you want clues to a stock's decline, you can basically take all the financial indicators that drive a stock up — such as earnings growth, sales growth and profit margins — and turn them upside down. These are your red flags:

• A sharp slowdown in earnings growth in back-to-back quarters. For example, if a company's earnings growth has been in the 100% range for several quarters, it's bad news when that slows down to 20% or 30%. Wall Street has little patience and will quickly turn its attention to other, faster-growing companies. You should also pay attention to companies whose earnings or sales growth break a habitual pattern. For example, if a company had earnings growth over several quarters between 25% and 35% then reports three quarters of steady deceleration, this could be a red flag. Such subtle slowdowns in earnings or sales can sometimes lead to the company eventually missing earnings forecasts.
   
• Check IBD SmartSelect® Corporate Ratings in the stock tables. Be careful with any stock whose Earnings Per Share Rating slips below 70. This means 30% of stocks are producing better results. Details on earnings announcements appear daily in IBD's Earnings News section.

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• Significant drops in other main fundamentals — sales growth, profit margins and return on equity — should serve as warning signs, especially if the stock starts having trouble making gains. Check the Sales+Profit Margins+ROE Rating for any significant drops in this gauge.

(For Sample Purposes Only)

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