These three triggers can help narrow down the investment universe to stocks with the best profit potential.
ULTA, AEO, GAP and FIVE stand out as retail picks for 2026, driven by brand strength, loyalty and innovation.
Wall Street put up a modest show in the final quarter of 2025, with the S&P 500 advancing only 1.9%, the Dow Jones gaining 3.3% and the Nasdaq Composite adding about 2.1%. The small-cap index Russell 2000 added 1.6% during that period.
Semiconductor stocks start out 2026 with powerful tailwinds in their corner after vastly outperforming in 2025, but these tailwinds have the potential to turn into headwinds. The semiconductor sector continues to do better than most, although lately gains are driven by fewer stocks with many more lagging behind. Artificial intelligence or AI continues to underpin the semiconductor sector, but there are increasingly undesirable developments to be found.
Astera Labs and Marvell Technology are positioned to benefit from surging memory prices via their advanced memory controller solutions. Astera Labs receives a Strong Buy rating, justified by a 109% projected CY26 revenue jump and a reasonable 24x forward revenue multiple. Marvel is rated Buy, with attractive ~9.5x forward revenue multiple and $2B in expected memory controller revenue over three years.
Choppy December markets still rewarded leveraged ETF plays, with big gains in RKLB, AGQ, ASTX, MUU and CONI.
5 dividend ETFs crushed the S&P 500 in 2025 as global payouts shined. Winners include FDD, IDV, DTH, FGD & DWX.
Agree Realty and Build-A-Bear Workshop are high-quality, long-term holdings but currently trade at or above fair value. I target ADC as a nibble under $70, a buy under $65, and a strong buy under $60, emphasizing margin of safety. BBW is attractive for nibbling under $55, buying under $50, and loading up under $45, given its growth and debt-free balance sheet.
But for investors who piled into the mega-cap Magnificent Seven stocks, it was more of a mixed bag. Apple NASDAQ: AAPL, for example, finished the year with a less than 12% gain, trailing the S&P 500's 2025 gain of 17.49%.
Investors can make resolutions for the new year as well, such as contributing more to retirement accounts, using risk management techniques more effectively, or simply spending less time staring at their account screen.
The hardest part about investing in artificial intelligence isn't believing in the technology—it's deciding which companies will actually profit from it.
Today I have a sweet dividend “double shot” for you: The first? A 2.8% payout set to grow thanks to AI—and take the stock price up with it.