As 2026 gets underway, it’s time to consider which investment themes and stocks could be in the spotlight in the year ahead.
Despite bouts of volatility, fuelled by both economic and political uncertainty, stock markets delivered a strong performance in 2025. The UK’s FTSE 100 (^FTSE) is up more than 20% at the time of writing, while the US S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) have both advanced about 16%.
Saxo UK investor strategist Neil Wilson said that 2025 has seen “a lot of AI froth – unprofitable companies enjoying insane multiples”.
“This is coming to an end, but AI isn’t going away and the earnings outlook remains positive, so we look to profitable, quality growth names,” he said. “Growth at a reasonable price is the mantra for 2026.”
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Wilson said that 2026 could see a ramping up of AI infrastructure spending “as the scramble for winner-takes-all dominance reaches a new level” and looked to a potential “broadening out” of the AI capital expenditure trade. In addition, he said that the monetisation of AI investment “will grow in focus, albeit near-term funding worries are probably overstated”.
Other themes Wilson suggested could remain in focus in the year ahead include commodities and defence.
With that in mind, here’s some examples of the stocks that have been highlighted by Wilson and other analysts that tap into key investment themes.
Wilson said that in terms of the three key threads around the AI trade – acceleration, broadening and monetisation – two “Magnificent 7” stocks looked “well placed”.
One is Google-parent Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), with shares in the tech company up nearly 62% over the past year at the time of writing.
“Alphabet is all about improving growth in Google Cloud – 40% in Q1 26 potentially,” said Wilson.
In addition, he said that Alphabet-owned autonomous driving company Waymo is “streets ahead of Tesla (TSLA)”.
He also said that worries about Alphabet’s “search revenues are evaporating as fears of AI’s cannibalisation of search didn’t really take into account Google’s ability to be AI leader”.
The other Mag 7 stock Wilson highlighted is Facebook-parent Meta (META). “Never bet against [CEO Mark] Zuckerberg is kind of my view here”, he said.
“But more to the point it’s about AI monetisation and I think Meta is incredibly well placed to achieve this with its ecosystem.”
Shares in Meta fell on the back of the company’s third-quarter results in October, as a one-time, tax-related charge weighed on the company’s earnings.
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Meta also said it expected to have higher capital expenditure for the year of $70bn (£51.9bn) to $72bn, up from previous guidance of $66bn to $72bn, as it continues to invest in AI infrastructure. Meta CFO Susan Li said in her earnings commentary that the company expected that capital expenditure “dollar growth will be notably larger in 2026 than 2025”.
Wilson said the major risk to both Meta and Alphabet is the “AI bubble bursting and capex spending seen not delivering”.
Similarly, Bank of America (BAC) analysts believe that AI will continue to drive attractive returns, despite volatility.
They said in a note on 16 December that “AI is still the place to be” and to expect a “choppy but cheerful year for chips” in 2026.
Chipmaking giant Nvidia (NVDA) was among their top large-cap picks in the semiconductor sector, with a “buy” rating on the stock.
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They have a price objective on the stock of $275 per share, a big leap from $183 at the time of writing.
The analysts said they believed this is justified by Nvidia’s “leading share in fast-growing AI compute/networking markets, offset by lumpiness in global AI projects, a cyclical gaming market, and concerns around access to power.”
Turning to Europe, Barclays (BARC.L) analysts highlighted a number of stocks outside the AI space in their outlook for 2026.
“AI may hold the fate of equities in 2026, but it is not the only show in town,” the analysts said in a note on 18 November.
They listed a number of key “overweight” stocks in Europe for 2026, including Paris-listed outdoor advertising company JCDecaux (DEC.PA), predicting a potential 65% upside on the stock.
Barclays’ analysts said: “We like Decaux for the medium-term growth coming from … programmatic boosting growth meaningfully; clear channel outdoor’s retrenchment to the US leading to better contract terms (Decaux now being the sole global outdoor operator) and; China’s recovery.”
“We think FY26 should be better owing to contract wins and better economic growth in Europe,” they added.
German-listed travel company TUI (TUI1.DE) was another name on Barclays’ equity analysts list of key overweights for 2026. They see a potential 58% upside on the stock.
The analysts said they are “constructive towards low-cost airlines and package tourism and relatively cautious towards full-service airlines”.
In its full-year results, published on 10 December, TUI reported a record performance for the 2025 financial year. The company posted underlying earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) of €1.46bn (£1.27bn), which was up 12.6% and higher than its raised guidance of 9% to 11% growth offered in August. Meanwhile, group revenue increased by 4.4% to €24.2bn.
For the year ahead, TUI said it expected revenue to increase by 2% to 4% and underlying EBIT to grow by 7% to 10%.
In the UK, outsourcing company Capita (CPI.L) was listed as a key overweight for 2026 by Barclays’ analysts, with a potential upside of 88% on the stock.
They said Capita “has an opportunity to bring AI tools to a receptive UK government”.
Capita announced in mid-December that it had secured a four-year contract renewal with a major European telecoms provider, starting in January 2026 and valued at £62m ($83.5m).
In the company’s half-year results, published in August, CEO Adolfo Hernandez said the firm was seeing “good signs of momentum in the ongoing transformation” in Capita.
For the six months ended 30 June, Capita reported adjusted revenue of £1.15bn, which was 4% lower than the same period last year. Adjusted pre-tax profit was down 29% to £22.6m.
For investors with a cautious risk appetite, AJ Bell investment director Russ Mould named pharmaceuticals company GSK (GSK.L) as a noteworthy stock for the year ahead.
“The one thing that neither equity, nor fixed income nor currency markets, seem to be pricing in for 2026 is a global economic slowdown or recession,” he said. “As such, that would probably be the biggest unpleasant surprise for the coming year and it therefore makes sense to include a stock with defensive qualities, just in case, since a balanced portfolio is designed to be prepared for a range of scenarios to give both upside potential and downside protection.”
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He said that GSK “may just fit the bill”, pointing out that it trades on barely 10 times forward earnings and comes with a dividend yield of 3.9% for 2026, according to analysts’ consensus earnings forecasts.
“The early vibes are that incoming chief executive Luke Miels is not planning on major surgery at the FTSE 100 index member when he takes over from Dame Emma Walmsley in January, given how he is already publicly backing existing targets for profit margins in 2026 and revenues for 2030,” said Mould.
He said that GSK also currently has a “happy knack of beating even near-term expectations, something that could be very handy for shareholders if the cycle turns down and earnings start to disappoint elsewhere.”
“A first share buyback since 2013 also speaks of management’s confidence in the future and tops up the total cash return from the stock,” he added.
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