Remember that sinking feeling when some of the biggest names in your portfolio just refused to join the party while the broader market kept hitting record highs? I sure do. 2025 served up a weird mix—broad indexes up more than 16%, yet certain blue-chip stocks got left in the dust. Tariffs, strategy missteps, acquisition jitters—you name it, something held them back. But here’s the thing that keeps me up at night (in a good way): a bunch of these laggards are quietly putting the pieces in place for what could be an explosive 2026.
I’ve been digging through earnings calls, investor presentations, and channel checks for months, and five names keep rising to the top of my “comeback watchlist.” These aren’t speculative small-caps or meme darlings. We’re talking about world-class companies trading at discounts that feel almost irrational given what management teams are executing right now.
Five Stocks Ready to Leave 2025 in the Rearview Mirror
Let’s get into them—no fluff, no recycled headlines. Just the real reasons I believe these stocks are mispriced and the catalysts that could send them significantly higher over the next twelve months.
Amazon (AMZN) – The Cloud Engine Just Roared Back to Life
Raise your hand if you spent most of 2025 hearing that Amazon was “losing” the AI race. Yeah, me too. The narrative got loud—competitors were moving faster, capex was ballooning, retail margins were supposedly going to get crushed by tariffs. The stock barely budged while everything else flew.
Then the third-quarter numbers dropped. AWS growth reaccelerated to 20%—its fastest pace since mid-2022. That’s not a rounding error; that’s a statement. Management basically said, “We’re still in the very early innings of AI demand, and we’re spending aggressively to grab share.” Translation: the flywheel is spinning again.
On the e-commerce side, the regionalization of fulfillment networks is finally paying off. Shipping speeds are up, costs per unit are down, and the tariff noise? It’s real, but Amazon has more pricing power and logistics leverage than almost anyone on the planet. I expect operating margins to keep expanding through 2026, which at current multiples would be a very nice surprise for the market.
“We continue to see very strong demand for our AI offerings, and we’re investing aggressively to keep up.”
– Management commentary that barely moved the stock… yet
Eaton (ETN) – The Unsung Hero Powering the Entire AI Buildout
Everyone talks about chips and software when they talk AI. Almost nobody talks about the electrical infrastructure required to keep those monster data centers humming. That’s Eaton’s world—and business is absolutely on fire.
Third-quarter electrical orders for data centers were up 70% year-over-year. Let that sink in for a second. Seventy percent. And the stock is still roughly flat for 2025. The disconnect feels almost comical at this point.
- New AI chips are power-hungry beasts
- Hyperscalers are racing to add capacity everywhere
- Eaton supplies the critical power management gear they can’t run without
Management keeps raising guidance, yet the multiple refuses to expand. That tells me the market is still pricing in a slowdown that simply isn’t showing up in the order book. If anything, the AI data center boom looks like it’s shifting into higher gear. Double-digit EPS growth for years feels baked in at this point.
Nike (NKE) – Early Innings of a Classic Turnaround
I’ll be honest—watching Nike stumble over the past couple of years hurt a little. This is the brand that basically defined cool for a generation. Innovation took a back seat, wholesale relationships soured, and the stock paid the price.
Enter Elliott Hill, the longtime Nike veteran who came out of retirement to take the CEO chair. The “Win Now” plan he rolled out is exactly what the doctor ordered: refocus on the hero categories (running, basketball, training), rebuild wholesale partnerships, and bring back that athlete-first obsession.
We’re already seeing green shoots. Excess inventory is finally clearing, new product drops are getting buzz again, and partners like Dick’s Sporting Goods are fully back in the fold after the Foot Locker deal. Turnarounds rarely move in a straight line, but the early progress is impossible to ignore.
Patience is required, sure. But when this story flips from “Nike is losing share” to “Nike is taking share again,” the re-rating could be swift and substantial.
Palo Alto Networks (PANW) – Acquisition Noise Masking a Brilliant Strategy
Few stories summed up 2025 sentiment better than Palo Alto. The company kept printing strong numbers, and the stock kept going nowhere—sometimes even down—because investors fixated on two big acquisitions.
First there was worry the company overpaid for certain assets. Then came the fear that integrating large deals would distract management. I get it—execution risk is real.
Here’s what I see instead: Nikesh Arora has an almost spooky ability to buy companies right before their markets explode. The “platformization” strategy—bundling firewall, cloud security, and now identity and observability—is gaining serious traction. Customers love buying a complete suite from one vendor, and Palo Alto is becoming that vendor.
As the integrations start contributing in 2026, I suspect the market will shift from fretting about deal math to celebrating the accelerated market-share gains. Cybersecurity spending isn’t slowing down anytime soon.
Starbucks (SBUX) – The U.S. Turn Is Real, China Risk Just Got Sliced
Brian Niccol walking across the street from Chipotle to Starbucks felt like one of those “wait, did that really just happen?” moments. And so far, the guy is delivering.
U.S. same-store sales flipped positive in September and kept the momentum into October. Traffic—actual bodies walking through the door—is improving. That doesn’t happen by accident. Shorter wait times, smarter labor scheduling, and menu tweaks are moving the needle.
Meanwhile, the China exposure that terrified everyone? The joint-venture deal with Boyu Capital materially de-risks the market while freeing up cash. Management now has extra dry powder to keep investing in the U.S. turnaround without stretching the balance sheet.
Put it all together and you have a global brand with pricing power executing a back-to-basics plan under fresh leadership. That recipe has worked wonders before, and I think it will again.
Look, nobody has a crystal ball. Macro surprises, geopolitical flare-ups, or plain old execution hiccups can always appear. But from where I sit today, these five companies have rarely lined up this nicely—strong fundamentals, clear catalysts, and valuations that still reflect more fear than reality.
2025 was the warm-up act. 2026 could be when the real show begins.
Which one of these names excites you the most right now? Drop a comment below—I read every single one.
