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For more than 30 years, I have offered an annual list of 10 stock picks with the potential to beat the market in the 12 months ahead. My selections for 2024 notched the highest return ever, but my choices for 2025 flamed out. They scored an average of a mere 5.9%, compared with 21.5% for the benchmark S&P 500 Index. Six out of 10 stocks fell, four by more than 20% each. What hurt me most? Not having any of the mega-capitalization tech stocks that provided the lift for the S&P 500. I correct the oversight this time around.
I am still ahead of the game by about three percentage points over the past 10 years, but mean reversion is dragging me down to the index, which is what is supposed to happen in theory.
Following tradition, I have chosen nine stocks for 2026 from the broader choices of experts that I trust, and I include one of my own.
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The best 2025 performer by far was Shopify (SHOP), returning 122.3%. It is still a top holding of ARK Innovation (ARKK), the go-go exchange-traded fund run by Cathie Wood. Her most recent acquisition is Exact Sciences (EXAS), a money-losing cancer diagnostics company. Its best-known product is Cologuard, an at-home, non-invasive version of a colonoscopy.
Exact Sciences is an unloved stock in a sector with a bright future — a good combination — and it’s cheap enough for a takeover.
Warren Buffett‘s Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B) had a big winner in 2025 with Heico (HEI), an aerospace-parts provider. Lately, Berkshire has doubled its position in one of my longtime favorite stocks, Louisiana-based Pool (POOL), distributor of swimming pool supplies, with a market capitalization (outstanding shares multiplied by the current stock price) of just $10 billion, or nearly so.
Revenues and profits have been disappointing over the past few years, and the industrial stock has fallen by half since the end of 2021. But it’s a strong Buffett-style franchise business with a large installed base of pools that need supplies regularly, and sales are reviving.
Oberweis Micro-Cap (OBCMX) is a fabulous mutual fund with a lofty but justified expense ratio of 1.47%. The fund’s 2024 pick was the top performer, but its stock for 2025, Cellebrite DI (CLBT), was a small loser.
For 2026, I like one of the few stocks Oberweis has added to its portfolio recently: Limbach Holdings (LMB), which serves hospitals, universities and other institutions that need complicated mechanical, electrical and plumbing infrastructure. The stock has stumbled lately and looks particularly attractive.
My small-cap guru, Daniel Abramowitz, of Hillson Financial Management in Rockville, Maryland, likes Alight (ALIT), a cloud-based provider of human capital services — and so do I. The company has been in turnaround mode, selling off a payroll unit and focusing on reducing debt and improving margins.
Abramowitz sees finances picking up in the year ahead, and he points out that respected activist adviser Starboard Value is the largest shareholder. He calls the stock “exceedingly cheap” and notes that it has a high dividend yield of 5.6%. A takeover target, Alight is undoubtedly risky, but the payoff could be substantial.
The Value Line Investment Survey, which offers the best single-page analysis of stocks you’ll ever find, just promoted Chubb (CB), the high-end property and casualty insurer, to its top timeliness rating (“1”). Chubb also gets a “1” for safety.
The industry hasn’t had much trouble raising rates in this risk-filled environment. Chubb profits keep rising smartly, and the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio is deliciously low. Every year, I choose a Value Line stock that gets double-“1” ratings, and the choice usually pays off. It didn’t last year with MGM Resorts International (MGM), which lost 13.1% — and its ratings were demoted. But I have high hopes for Chubb, a great company.
The JPMorgan Large Cap Growth Fund (OLGAX), a new stock picker for my list, has been whipping its peers despite a 0.94% expense ratio. A big reason: Half its assets are tied up in just seven stocks that have made big investments in artificial intelligence. I am not going to ignore them for 2026.
My absolute favorite is Alphabet (GOOGL), the former Google, a company that knows how to make search — and research — pay. Shares have more than tripled in five years but are still a bargain.
Chinese stocks tumbled from their pre-COVID heights, then recovered smartly this year. An example is Alibaba Group Holding (BABA), China’s version of Amazon. What I like is a company in which Alibaba is the top investor — a good endorsement. It is XPeng (XPEV), a transportation innovator that has developed a revolutionary flying car that will be in the air next year.
The company makes conventional electric cars, too, for export to 46 countries (but not, of course, to the U.S.), and sales of those vehicles more than tripled in 2025 compared with 2024. China is fast developing a “low-altitude economy,” a transport layer for drones and flying cars, and XPeng wants to be a first mover.
Until this year, Terry Tillman, who analyzes tech companies for Truist, had the best winning streak in the history of my list. His pick last year, Zeta Global (ZETA), a firm that uses high-tech tools, including AI, for criminal investigations, was nearly the worst performer of the 10, but I’m not abandoning him. He recently reiterated his Buy rating for Roper Technologies (ROP), which makes software for a variety of sectors, including school administration, transportation management and autism care. The stock is far off its March high.
I am doubling down on Argentina, which I recommended a few months ago. The country’s libertarian president, Javier Milei, is trying to revive Argentina’s perennially disappointing, inflation-ridden economy. The results so far are mixed, but Milei won a big victory in the midterm elections in October, so his plan has more time to work.
I previously recommended Global X MSCI Argentina ETF (ARGT) for a diversified way to buy the market. The stock in the portfolio I find most attractive is Grupo Supervielle (SUPV), a financial services firm. The financial stock, like Argentina itself, has been on a roller-coaster ride, going from about $4 a share at the start of 2024 to $17 a year later, only to fall to $5 in mid-September and then jump to $12 after Milei’s victory. If you can stand the volatility, this is a good bet.
My own pick for 2025, Constellation Energy (CEG), finished second best, with a gain of 43.9%. (Not to brag, but each of my selections over the past three years has finished in either second or third place.)
For 2026, I like LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMUY), the French luxury conglomerate with 75 of the best high-end brand names in the world, including Dior, Tiffany and Dom Perignon. The company has figured out how to maintain quality and creativity while achieving economies of scale. The consumer discretionary stock has languished in the past year, creating a rare buying opportunity.
Warning label: I believe these stocks will beat the market in the coming 12 months, but I don’t advise buying shares unless you intend to hold them for at least five years. Supplement my brief descriptions with your own research, and please diversify. Happy hunting!
James K. Glassman chairs Glassman Advisory, a public-affairs consulting firm. He does not write about his clients. His most recent book is Safety Net: The Strategy for De-Risking Your Investments in a Time of Turbulence. He owns none of the stocks listed here. You can reach him at JKGlassman@gmail.com.
Note: This item first appeared in Kiplinger Personal Finance Magazine, a monthly, trustworthy source of advice and guidance. Subscribe to help you make more money and keep more of the money you make here.
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