Have you ever watched a stock you secretly loved blast off while everyone else was busy chasing the usual mega-cap suspects? There’s something almost unfair about it—the quiet names that barely get a mention on financial television suddenly wake up and run circles around the market darlings.
Right now, in the final stretch of 2025, that exact scenario feels like it’s setting up again. While most portfolios remain stuffed with the same handful of technology giants, a few genuinely interesting companies are trading with almost no real investor crowding. And when crowding is this low but catalysts are this obvious, experience tells me fireworks often follow.
The Beauty of Low Crowding in a Crowded Market
Let’s be honest: most of us suffer from a severe case of FOMO when the hot stocks keep running. We pile in near the top, then wonder why returns suddenly evaporate. The flip side—finding names that institutions and retail traders alike have basically ignored—can feel uncomfortable at first. But that’s exactly where the asymmetric upside hides.
Some of the smartest analysts on the Street recently screened the entire U.S. market for exactly this setup: stocks sitting on clear near-term catalysts yet showing almost no evidence of aggressive long positioning. Out of hundreds of possibilities, three names rose to the very top. In my view, each one tells a different story about where money could rotate next.
Kohl’s – The Retail Comeback Nobody Saw Coming
Remember when department stores were left for dead? I certainly do. Walking through a half-empty Kohl’s a couple years ago felt almost post-apocalyptic. Fast-forward to today, and something remarkable is happening.
The stock has already surged roughly 70% year-to-date, which would be impressive enough on its own. But dig deeper and you’ll notice almost the entire move happened in a single explosive week after earnings and the announcement of a permanent CEO. We’re talking about the biggest weekly gain in half a decade.
Here’s what fascinates me most: despite that violent move higher, measures of investor positioning still show virtually no overcrowding on the long side. Translation—very few people actually own the stock in size. When a name moves that hard on real fundamental improvement yet remains under-owned, the path of least resistance is often… well, higher.
Turnaround stories are difficult to execute, but when they actually work, the reward can be outsized precisely because so many investors gave up too early.
Operational improvements appear genuine. Same-store sales trends have inflected positively, partnerships with higher-end brands are gaining traction, and the balance sheet cleanup over the past two years finally looks complete. Add a new leader who now has the “permanent” label instead of “interim,” and you have the classic recipe for a prolonged re-rating.
Wall Street remains skeptical—average ratings sit at hold, with price targets implying meaningful downside from current levels. I’ve learned over the years to treat that exact combination (strong price action + lingering analyst doubt) as a green flag rather than red.
Sunoco – Quietly Dominant in a Fragmented Space
Every bull market has its forgotten corners, and right now the fuel distribution business feels like one of them. Sunoco operates one of the largest independent fuel distribution networks in the country—think thousands of gas stations and convenience stores supplied wholesale.
While the shares are up a modest 8% or so this year—massively lagging the broader indices—the underlying business continues to print steady cash flow with remarkably little drama. Management has spent years consolidating a highly fragmented industry, and the benefits of scale are now clearly visible in the margins.
- Extremely low long-crowding metrics—barely registers on institutional positioning screens
- Consensus analyst rating sits at buy (rare for this sector lately)
- Average price target suggests low-teens percentage upside from here
- Dividend yield remains attractive and growing
In a world obsessed with growth-at-any-price stories, boring but profitable feels almost radical. Yet history shows these exact profiles often deliver the smoothest rides when investors eventually rotate toward quality and yield.
Perhaps the most interesting angle is the partnership structure. Sunoco converted to a pure-play distributor years ago, dropping downstream refining exposure that scared people away. The market never fully rewarded that simplification—until maybe now.
EchoStar – From Forgotten Satellite Player to Deal Catalyst
Few sectors have been as brutally written off as satellite communications. EchoStar, parent of Dish Network, spent years languishing while cable and fiber providers grabbed headlines. Then came the spectrum deal with a major wireless carrier, and suddenly everything changed.
The stock has more than tripled this year on that single piece of news. Tripled. And yet—believe it or not—measures of long crowding still look remarkably tame. That tells you most of the buying so far has been short covering or fast-money trading, not committed institutional accumulation.
Spectrum is the ultimate scarce resource in wireless. When a major carrier decides it needs more and is willing to pay up, the economics can be transformative for the seller. In this case, the transaction not only validates EchoStar’s asset value but dramatically improves the balance sheet at the same time.
Some of the best investments I’ve ever made looked absurdly obvious in hindsight—but almost nobody was positioned ahead of time.
Analysts remain cautious overall, with average ratings around hold and modest upside baked into targets. That caution feels increasingly disconnected from reality when you consider how much intrinsic value the spectrum portfolio may actually contain.
Stepping back, what ties these three stories together is the same pattern I’ve watched play out dozens of times over the years. Strong fundamental catalysts meet unusually low investor ownership. The combination rarely stays undiscovered forever.
Of course, nothing is guaranteed. Markets can remain irrational longer than we can remain solvent, as the saying goes. But when the setup looks this lopsided—real improvement yet almost no one paying attention—I’d rather be early than late.
Sometimes the best opportunities aren’t hidden in complicated derivatives or emerging markets halfway around the world. Sometimes they’re sitting right in plain sight, waiting for the crowd to finally notice what a few observant investors already see.
2026 is shaping up to be a year of rotation and dispersion. Names that lagged the magnificent rally of the past few years could finally get their moment. And if the low-crowding data is any guide, these three stocks just might lead the charge.
