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Over the past ten years, Motorola Solutions (MSI) turned a $10,000 investment into about $64,900 before dividends. That same $10,000 invested in the S&P 500 became about $35,800. Holding those shares looks easy in hindsight. The real question is not whether you should have bought the stock, but whether you could have held it. So how many times do you think the stock fell 20% or more along the way?
How Often Did Motorola Solutions Stock Fall?
Motorola Solutions stock fell 20% or more three times over those ten years, dropping past 30% in one instance. The table below places these declines beside the S&P 500 over the same dates.
The deepest drop came in early 2020, when the stock fell 33.1% from February to March. The S&P 500 fell 33.9% over those exact weeks, so Motorola Solutions went down with the broader market. Shareholders then waited until March 2021, about a year after the low, for the stock to close back above its prior high.
What Was It Like To Hold Motorola Solutions Through A Fall?
The latest decline began in November 2024. The stock slid for 13 months, bottoming out in December 2025 with a 27.9% loss. The S&P 500 rose 13.4% over that identical stretch, leaving shareholders to watch the market climb while their stock continued to sink.
Nearly two years after that November 2024 high, the stock has still not closed above it. The 2020 and 2022 falls each ended within about a year of the low. Nobody holding shares through the middle of this latest drop knew whether it would end the same way.
Was Something Wrong With Motorola Solutions’ Business?
Operating through two segments, Products and Systems Integration, and Software and Services, Motorola Solutions sells public safety equipment and software. This lineup includes P25 devices and infrastructure, alongside body-worn camera and in-car video solutions.
The business did slip around the time of the 2020 fall. In the 2022 fall, twelve-month revenue rose 2.0% from the high to the low, while the operating margin eased from 21.2% to 20.1%. Revenue for 2020 came in 6.0% below the prior year. The operating margin also eased, falling from 20.7% to 19.1%.
The latest decline was different. Between the November 2024 high and the December 2025 low, twelve-month revenue rose 6.2%, and the operating margin held at about 25%. The business held up on those two measures: the stock fell without shrinking sales or a weaker margin.
