If you’re looking to build out your portfolio with individual stocks, finding strong investment opportunities is key.
Each month, we compile a list of the top 20 best performing stocks. These are the best-performing S&P 500-listed stocks so far in 2026.
But remember, investing in the stock market involves risks. It’s important to do your own research or consult with a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Top 20 best stocks to buy now
Methodology: How we choose the best stocks to buy now
Finder’s investments experts analyze all S&P 500-listed stocks to curate a list of the best performing stocks. The companies are ranked in average order of both their year-to-date and month-over-month performance.
Our top picks for trading platforms to buy the best stocks
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How to find the best stocks to buy now
You effectively want to find the stocks that have been mis-priced, before the market realizes that it’s mis-priced. There are a few ways to get an idea of which stocks are undervalued, which ones are overvalued and which ones are just right. Here are some of the strategies:
Strategy 1: Keep an eye on the trends
You’re in a good position to find the best stocks to buy if you’ve got a good idea of which stocks are trending, what some of the experts are saying and which sectors are doing well (or not doing well). As well as Finder, there are some good financial news sites such as Bloomberg and the Financial Times. These can help you stay on top of the latest trends and expert views.
Social media and forums, like Reddit and X (formerlyTwitter) have been a good source of financial insight — but you should ensure that you trust the accounts you’re following. Look out for people with knowledge and experience in the subject.
Strategy 2: Look at the news
Once you know which stocks are trending, find out why. There’s almost always a reason behind why people are talking about a specific stock — sometimes it’s really obvious, for example every time Apple releases a new product, something happens to its stock price. Other times, the answer might take a little digging.
Looking at news sites can be really helpful here. You can set news alerts or actively search for company names to find out what’s going on. Many stock trading apps offer stock watchlists and price alerts to help you find the stocks you want.
Traders who keep an eye on the news might be classed as “momentum investors” – people who like to capitalize on the continuance of a trend.
Strategy 3: Look into analysis
There are a couple of different types of analysis available for you to try, and in some cases, someone else can do it for you.
Both technical and fundamental analysts are hoping to find a stock which is underpriced by the wider market. If they’re confident in their assessment, they can find what they believe is a cheap stock to buy, and make a gain as the price rises.
But you don’t need to be a professional analyst to try it out. The GameStop frenzy in early 2021 showed that even the retail investor can give the institutional investors a run for their money. If you’re new to investing or trading and want to give it a shot – go for it. We’ve included some more detail below about the types of analysis.
Remember the golden rules: don’t invest more than you can afford to lose, and remember that your investments can go down as well as up.
Individual stock picking can offer higher potential returns and greater control over investment choices, but it’s risky because it can lead to significant losses if those stocks underperform due to market volatility, company-specific issues or broader economic factors.
For these reasons, exchange-traded funds (ETFs) are generally better for beginners than individual stocks. ETFs offer diversified exposure to a broad range of assets, reducing risk and simplifying the investment process. Specifically, low-cost index funds give you exposure to all the stocks within a specific market indexes, such as the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average or the total stock market index. This diversifies your risk because the decline of one stock may be offset by the outperformance of another.
That said, blue chip stocks and dividend stocks are often considered good choices for beginners because they tend to be more stable, have established tracked records of performance and provide consistent income through dividends.
Remember, there are absolutely no guarantees with any stock or investing strategy. So make sure you research each stock, regardless of how established the company is.
Our expert says
"Beginners may benefit the most by investing in a handful of stocks of companies they know and whose products they are familiar with. That said, beginners may want to build the core of their portfolio with broad market index funds to get the most diversification without requiring the market expertise needed for picking individual stocks."
Take a look at the 10-year historical performance of the S&P 500. The S&P 500 is a stock market index comprising 500 leading US companies, and it’s widely regarded as an essential benchmark for the US stock market.
There's no single definition. Most investors look at a mix of factors including consistent earnings or revenue growth, healthy profit margins, manageable debt and solid P/E ratio. Analyst consensus ratings can offer a useful starting point, but they're opinions, not guarantees. Strong companies can still see their share prices fall, and unloved stocks can rebound.
Not necessarily. A stock that has been on the move may leave less upside and more downside if results disappoint. Past performance is not a reliable predictor of future returns, which is why most screens also look at fundamentals, analyst outlook and valuation rather than year-to-date returns alone.
There's no magic number, but most experts suggest holding enough different, across different sectors, to avoid having your portfolio's fate tied to any single company. For investors who don't want to manage a long list of individual positions, ETFs and index funds can deliver broad diversification in a single trade.
Fundamental analysis looks at a company's underlying business: earnings, revenue, margins, debt, competitive position. This will allow you to estimate what its shares are really worth. Technical analysis ignores the business and focuses on price charts, volume and patterns to identify trends and entry points. Many investors use a combination of both.
ETFs are generally considered a safer starting point because they spread your money across many companies in a single fund, which reduces the impact of any one stock performing badly. Individual stocks can offer bigger gains but also bigger losses. A common approach is to build a core portfolio of low-cost index ETFs and then add individual stocks once you're comfortable researching companies on your own.
Blue chip stocks are shares in large, well-established companies with a long track record of stable earnings and, often, regular dividend payments. They tend to be less volatile than smaller or newer companies, which is why they're frequently recommended for beginners and long-term investors. Learn more in our guide to blue chip stocks.
Analyst ratings reflect the consensus view of professionals who follow a company closely, so they can be a useful input. But analysts can be wrong, ratings tend to lag price moves and a "Buy" rating is not a guarantee of gains. Treat them as one data point among many rather than a recommendation to act.
Trying to time the market is notoriously difficult, even for professionals. Many long-term investors use dollar-cost averaging, investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule, to smooth out the highs and lows rather than waiting for the "right" moment. The longer your time horizon, the less individual entry points tend to matter.
Less than ever. Most major brokerages have no account minimum, charge no commission on US stock trades and offer fractional shares, which let you buy a portion of a share for as little as a few dollars. That means you can start building a portfolio without needing the full price of a single share.
Individual stocks carry company-specific risk: bad earnings, management changes, lawsuits or product failures can sink a single stock even when the broader market is rising. They're also exposed to market risk, sector risk and, for international companies, currency risk. Diversifying across companies and sectors and only investing money you can afford to lose for the long term helps manage these risks.
Matt Miczulski is an investments editor and market analyst at Finder. With over 450 bylines, Matt dissects and reviews brokers and investing platforms to expose perks and pain points, explores investment products and concepts and covers market news, making investing more accessible and helping readers to make informed financial decisions.
Before joining Finder in 2021, Matt covered everything from finance news and banking to debt and travel for FinanceBuzz. His expertise and analysis on investing and other financial topics has been featured on Yahoo Finance, CBS, MSN, Best Company and Consolidated Credit, among others. Matt holds a BA in history from William Paterson University.
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Kylie Purcell is the senior investments editor at Finder. She has a background in business and finance news with previous roles at SBS, Your Money, TVNZ, Switzer Group and The Adviser magazine. Kylie has a Masters in International Journalism and a Graduate Diploma in Economics. When she's not writing about the markets you can find her bingeing on coffee.
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Discover the best robo-advisors of 2026. Compare fees, account minimums and features from top platforms that automate investing for beginners and pros.
Fractional shares are fractions of company shares. Sometimes they’re made by brokers to allow those with limited funds to get access to stocks.
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Finder.com is an independent comparison platform and information service that aims to provide you with the tools you need to make better decisions. While we are independent, the offers that appear on this site are from companies from which Finder receives compensation. We may receive compensation from our partners for placement of their products or services. We may also receive compensation if you click on certain links posted on our site. While compensation arrangements may affect the order, position or placement of product information, it doesn't influence our assessment of those products. Please don't interpret the order in which products appear on our Site as any endorsement or recommendation from us. Finder compares a wide range of products, providers and services but we don't provide information on all available products, providers or services. Please appreciate that there may be other options available to you than the products, providers or services covered by our service.
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