It’s the last day of 2025. As I write this premarket, the S&P 500 is up 17.3% and on track to post its third straight year of positive annual returns.
Yesterday I read Bloomberg that the 21 analysts surveyed believe the index will rise in 2026, achieving a fourth consecutive year of gains. He also noted that since the October 2022 low, the index has increased by 90%.
When analysts are this optimistic, I worry. Although analysts are generally optimistic, this level of agreement is rare. What could go wrong?
The “Dogs of the Dow” strategy, which selects the 10 best-performing stocks from the Dow Jones Industrial Average at the start of each year, was up 17.8% through Dec. 26.
On Wednesdays, I typically discuss one or more stocks that hit a new 52-week high or low during the previous day’s trading.
To end the year, I thought I’d take a page from the Dogs of the Dow strategy, using the new 52-week lows as the guiding criteria to select winners in 2026.
In 2025, 105 stocks had at least 30 new 52-week lows and a market cap above $1 billion. Of these, 30 have dividend yields of 2.75% or more.
Here are the five most profitable stocks to buy for 2026 based on the criteria above.
Good year!
Alexandra Real Estate Shares (ARE) has hit 35 new 52-week lows in the past 12 months. Its title yields 10.7%.
The REIT (real Estate Investment Trust) specializes in offices and laboratories for the life sciences, agtech and technology sectors in US cities such as Boston, San Francisco and San Diego. As of September 30, it had 39.2 million square feet of leasable space.
Many of its tenants are biotechnology companies. The industry is experiencing its fifth year of post-COVID slowdown. As a result, it is divesting non-core real estate outside of its main megacampuses. This will not only strengthen its balance sheet, but also allow it to focus on fewer and higher quality assets.
ARE stock is down 49% in 2025.
Flower food (FLO) has hit 68 new 52-week lows over the past 12 months. Its title yields 9.1%.
The Georgia-based baked goods manufacturer has been doing this since 1919. Today, its brands include Nature’s Own, Dave’s Killer Bread, Wonder and Tastykake. Its 10,200 employees operate 44 bakeries in 19 states. In 2024, its sales were $5.1 billion.
That’s the good news. The bad news is that sales of organic products are declining. Excluding its $800 million acquisition of Simple Mills earlier this year, sales in 2025 are expected to decline nearly 1% to $5.06 billion.
Its shares are down 66% since hitting an all-time high of $30.16 in November 2022. While I’m not expecting miracles, the stock appears oversold.
Robert Half (RHI) has hit 52 new 52-week lows in the past 12 months. Its title yields 8.6%.
The California-based staffing company has been around for 77 years. He knows a thing or two about finding and hiring people. Unfortunately, while the unemployment rate reached its highest level in four years in November, at 4.6%, the number of companies hiring and the number of people looking for work are declining.
When hiring is frozen, as it is today, it is difficult for Robert Half to make money. In the third quarter of 2025, the company earned $43.0 million on revenue of $1.35 billion, representing a net margin of 3.2%. The net margin for the trailing 12 months ended September 30 was 2.8%, the lowest margin in the last decade.
Its stock price can’t stay this low forever. Down 61% in 2025, a rebound is expected.
Alight (ALIT) hit 52 new 52-week lows over the past 12 months. Its title yields 8.1%.
The company manages employee benefits and provides payroll and financial wellness services to more than 35 million large enterprise employees through its Alight Worklife platform.
Likewise, companies are not eager to hire, and economic uncertainty related to tariffs and other adverse factors is pushing companies to hoard their cash for AI-related investments. When business budgets are tight, it is virtually impossible to find new customers and increase revenue from existing customers.
The company has indeed moved towards AI initiatives that will not only improve the efficiency of Alight but also that of its customers.
With $243 million in free cash flow over the trailing 12 months ended September 30, the free cash flow yield is 8.2%. Anything above 8% is valuable territory.
Conagra Brands (CAG) hit 40 new 52-week lows in the past 12 months. Its title yields 8.0%.
In September, before reporting its third-quarter 2025 results on October 1, I wondered whether Conagra stock was a value play or a value trap. I was less than enthusiastic, stating, “You probably won’t get rich owning Conagra stock unless something radically positive happens in the next 3-5 years,” I wrote on September 24.
At the time, its shares were trading around $18.30. Three months later, CAG stock is below $17.45. Barchart’s technical opinion is a strong sell. As I suggested in September, taking a married put – you buy 100 shares of CAG and an ATM (at-the-money) put at the same time – protects your losses while entering at a stock price more than 50% lower than two years ago.
Americold Realty Trust (COLD) has hit 47 new 52-week lows in the past 12 months. Its title yields 6.9%.
As recently as April 2021, the temperature-controlled warehouse owner’s stock price was trading above $40. They are now below the January 2018 IPO price of $16. At the time, it had revenue of $1.54 billion and EBITDA of $255 million (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization); today, its trailing 12-month revenue stands at $2.61 billion, with EBITDA of $546 million.
While revenue and EBITDA have grown 69% and 114%, respectively, over the past eight years, its stock price has declined. What gives? Its net debt more than doubled to $4.1 billion. This represents 6.7 times its 12-month EBITDA through the third quarter of 2025.
The low stock price attracted the attention of activist investor Ancora Group Holdings. He is pushing Americold to sell its European operations to focus on North America. On December 22, Americold announced that two directors selected by Ancora would join the board.
Private equity firms have approached the company about buying the European operations, which sources say are worth $1.5 billion.
At a minimum, its shares must be worth $16, its IPO price.
The latter is a special addition. You will notice that Buckle (BKE) has hit 32 new 52-week lows over the past 12 months, but its stock is only yielding 2.6%, below my threshold of 2.75%.
I have been the Nebraska based retailer for many years. It will not be confused with Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF) or Aritzia (ATZAF), two high-flying retail growth stocks. Its annual results are relatively predictable with same-store sales growth of between 2% and 5% most quarters.
On December 9, Buckle announced a special cash dividend of $3.00 per share to be paid to shareholders of record at the close of business on January 15, 2026. This is in addition to the quarterly dividend of $0.35 it has paid since December 2021. Since the start of 2021, Buckle has paid special dividends of $5.65, $2.65, $2.50, 2.50 $ and $3.00. per share.
Including the $3.00 special dividend in January, the company will pay $4.40 per share in dividends in 2026. At the stock price of $53.76 as I write this, the yield is 8.2%.
It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
As of the date of publication, Will Ashworth had (directly or indirectly) no position in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data contained in this article are for informational purposes only. This article was originally published on Barchart.com
