My favorite stocks for 2026
On Monday, I reviewed the mostly highly profitable stock ideas I gave my readers last year. And today, I'll highlight which ones I like the most for 2026...
First, I'd like to review my "Big Four" stocks that I've been pounding the table on for nearly seven years: Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B), Alphabet (GOOGL), Meta Platforms (META), and Amazon (AMZN).
These were the core holdings I recommended in the April 2019 inaugural issue of my former newsletter, Empire Investment Report, at my old firm Empire Financial Research.
Since then, they're up an average of 243% – nearly double the S&P 500 Index's already outstanding 139% return:
On December 2, I gave each of these stocks a quality and valuation rating.
I last analyzed Berkshire in my November 4 e-mail, when I calculated that the stock was trading at an 11% discount to its intrinsic value. In the two months since then, it's up 5%, while I estimate that its intrinsic value has risen roughly 1%.
So today, the discount is slightly narrower at around 7%. At that price, I view Berkshire as a comfortable hold, not a buy.
Among the big three tech stocks, Meta was my favorite starting from October 31, 2022, when I pounded the table on the stock in six consecutive e-mails through November 7. That's when it was around $90 per share. (You can see the summary in my March 30, 2023 e-mail.)
It remained my favorite through 2023 and 2024 as it soared more than 500%.
Then, roughly a year ago, I named Alphabet as my new favorite among the three. It was a great call, as the stock rose 65% last year.
I think both of these stocks are still buys, as I outlined when I analyzed both companies' latest earnings reports on October 30.
But right now, my favorite by far is Amazon, for reasons I outlined in my November 5 e-mail:
The company has grown its revenues and profits at an exceptional rate over the past decade...
Yet, as you can see from this chart in my October 28 e-mail, its stock has done poorly over the past five years. Amazon has trailed its big-tech peers and the S&P 500 over that time frame...
[T]he stock is now trading at close to the lowest level of this [forward price-to-earnings] multiple in the past decade...
I concluded:
I expect Amazon to follow (rapidly growing) earnings going forward. And there might even be room for multiple expansion... which would really turbocharge returns.
Amazon is also the No. 1 stock pick for 2026 of my friend and NYU marketing professor Scott Galloway – see: Big Tech Stock Pick of 2026: Amazon.
He argues that Amazon's massive investment in its warehouses – and especially robots – is about to pay off in the form of expanding margins and profits.
Galloway also notes a big milestone for Amazon last year:
In June, it deployed its millionth robot worker, putting the company on pace to have more robots than humans in its warehouses by yearend.
Turning to other stocks I wrote favorably about last year, my favorite continues to be electric aircraft maker Joby Aviation (JOBY). The stock rose 62% last year, but if anything, it underperformed the positive developments at the company. (The archive of what I've written about Joby is here.)
It will soon launch commercial service in Dubai (I plan to be one of the first passengers), which could be a huge catalyst for the stock. This is the kind of story retail investors could go nuts for... And the company only has a $14 billion market cap.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly (LLY) and discount retailer Five Below (FIVE) have had huge run-ups so, like Berkshire, I view them as comfortable holds, not buys.
My value-investor instincts draw me to out-of-favor stocks that haven't worked – yet...
In order, my favorites in that category are:
- Aircraft financing company Willis Lease Finance (WLFC) (archive here)
- Payment processor Global Payments (GPN), which is insanely cheap (archive here) – and it's an open recommendation in Stansberry's Investment Advisory
- Dating site operator Match Group (MTCH), which is also very cheap and I think has significant upside under a new CEO (archive here)
- Software maker Adobe (ADBE), a cheap, cash-generating machine (archive here) – it's also an open Investment Advisory recommendation
- Travel website Tripadvisor (TRIP), which I think will be acquired at a nice premium this year (archive here)
Only Investment Advisory subscribers can read our in-depth analysis on Global Payments and Adobe. My team and I are always on the hunt for overlooked or over-punished gems like these.
If you're not a subscriber already, you can learn how to become one right here.
Lastly, among the 16 stocks to avoid I named in Monday's e-mail – the Terrible 10 and Stinky Six – the ones I think will perform the worst, in order (assuming QMMM never trades again – that's an obvious zero), are Carvana (CVNA), Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Tesla (TSLA), and Applovin (APP).
Best regards,
Whitney
P.S. I welcome your feedback – send me an e-mail by clicking here.
P.P.S. As you read this, I'm on my way home from South Africa via Kenya. Here are pictures from the four days we spent with friends at my parents' beach house on Lamu Island, just off the Kenyan coast, where I kite surfed every day (video here) and we went on a sunset dhow ride and snorkeled (video here):
