Archive for December, 2025
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The 2025 Buy List
Eddy Elfenbein, December 31st, 2025 at 10:14 pmHappy New Year!
The 2025 investing year is on the books!
This was another good year for Wall Street. The market shook off some trade-related jitters from this April to put in another solid performance. We even made several new all-time highs. Once again, the expected recession never arrived. After a long pause, the Federal Reserve resumed cutting interest rates again.
I’m pleased to say that the 2025 Buy List performed well, although we didn’t do as well as the overall market. Much of this can be explained by our conservative approach. In 2025, safe and secure stocks were not the most sought after on Wall Street.
For the year, the S&P 500 gained 16.39%, and with dividends, it was up 17.88%. Our Buy List was up 6.54% for the year, and with dividends, the gain was 7.53%. Most of our underperformance came when the market sharply turned around in April, May and June.
In 2025, the Buy List had a “beta” of 0.7105. That’s unusually low for us. I think this shows us how much risk the rest of the market was absorbing.
For the 20 years of the Buy List, the S&P 500 with dividends is up 706.20%, while our Buy List is up 713.84%.
Here’s a look at our Buy List versus the S&P 500 throughout the year (this doesn’t include dividends).
I always strive to be as transparent as possible when discussing our track record. Here’s a breakdown of how our Buy List performed in 2025. For tracking purposes, I assume the Buy List is a $1 million portfolio and that all 25 stocks are equally weighted at the start of the year.
Amphenol was our biggest winner on the year, with a gain of more than 94%. IES Holdings also did very well, with a gain of over 93%. Cencora gained 50% for us. Fiserv was our biggest loser, with a loss of 67%. FactSet and Miller Industries also had a tough year. Interestingly, in 2024, both Fiserv and Miller gained 54%.
FICO had a very dramatic year in 2025. At one point in May, it lost nearly one-third of its value in one week. Later, the stock popped more than 40% off its August low in just a few weeks.
Note that during the year, Fiserv changed its symbol from FI to FISV.
Here’s the data behind the dividend-adjusted returns. I’ve listed each stock’s beginning price, ending price and dividend-adjusted starting price.
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The 2026 Buy List
Eddy Elfenbein, December 31st, 2025 at 5:51 pmHere are the 25 stocks for the 2026 Buy List. The list is locked and sealed, and I can’t make any changes for 12 months.
For tracking purposes, I assume the Buy List is a $1 million portfolio that’s equally divided among 25 stocks. Below are all 25 positions with the number of shares for each and the closing price for 2025. Whenever I discuss how the Buy List is doing, the list below is what I’m referring to.
Here are the five new buys with their starting Buy Below prices:
Casey’s General Stores ($600)
Comfort Systems USA ($1,000)
McKesson ($900)
ResMed ($270)
Sprouts Farmers Market ($90)The five sells are:
Fiserv
McGrath RentCorp
Miller Industries
Otis Worldwide
SilganHere are the corporate descriptions of our five new stocks:
Casey’s is a Fortune 500 company operating approximately 2,900 convenience stores. Founded more than 50 years ago, the company has grown to become the third-largest convenience store retailer and the fifth-largest pizza chain in the United States. Casey’s provides freshly prepared foods, quality foods and friendly service at its locations. Guests can enjoy pizza, donuts, other assorted bakery items, and a wide selection of beverages and snacks.
Comfort Systems USA is a premier provider of business solutions addressing workplace comfort, with 184 locations in 139 cities around the nation.
McKesson Corporation is a diversified healthcare services leader dedicated to advancing health outcomes for patients everywhere. Our teams partner with biopharma companies, care providers, pharmacies, manufacturers, governments, and others to deliver insights, products and services to help make quality care more accessible and affordable.
Resmed creates life-changing health technologies that people love. We’re relentlessly committed to pioneering innovative technology to empower millions of people in 140 countries to live happier, healthier lives. Our AI-powered digital health solutions, cloud-connected devices and intelligent software make home healthcare more personalized, accessible and effective. Ultimately, Resmed envisions a world where every person can achieve their full potential through better sleep and breathing, with care delivered in their own home.
True to its farm-stand heritage, Sprouts offers a unique grocery experience featuring an open layout with fresh produce at the heart of the store. Sprouts inspires wellness naturally with a carefully curated assortment of better-for-you products paired with purpose-driven people. The healthy grocer continues to bring the latest in wholesome, innovative products made with lifestyle-friendly ingredients such as organic, plant-based and gluten-free. Headquartered in Phoenix, and one of the largest and fastest growing specialty retailers of fresh, natural and organic food in the United States, Sprouts employs approximately 35,000 team members and operates more than 450 stores in 24 states nationwide.
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Every Buy List Stock
Eddy Elfenbein, December 31st, 2025 at 9:22 amHere are all 117 Buy List stocks and when they made the cut.
Eddy Elfenbein is a Washington, DC-based speaker, portfolio manager and editor of the blog Crossing Wall Street. His