Summary
Highlights
Joseph Hogue and Bridget Bennett introduce the 2026 Stock Draft, where three investing experts will pick their top stocks for a 2026 portfolio. The experts are Mark Rousen, Tom Nash, and Kieran Francis, each specializing in different investment approaches. The hosts, Joseph Hogue and Bridget Bennett, also share their backgrounds and excitement for the draft.
Mark Rousen selects Amazon as his first pick, highlighting its diversification beyond e-commerce into cloud (AWS), advertising, and AI chips. He emphasizes Amazon's strong balance sheet, growth, and commitment of $200 billion in capex for AI, viewing it as a foundational position with significant untapped potential despite its history of reinvesting heavily into growth, making it an attractive investment.
Tom Nash’s first pick is Palantir, a stock he has been bullish on for years. Despite a recent 40% dip from its peak, Tom sees this as a 'beautiful entry point' due to its continued high growth rates (60% annual revenue growth, 90% free cash flow increase), strong financials ($7 billion cash, no debt), and its agnostic position in the AI revolution, making it a potential trillion-dollar company.
Kieran Francis picks Marvell Technologies, a riskier short-term play focused on high-speed interconnects, a crucial but often overlooked component of AI data centers. He draws parallels to the rapid appreciation of memory stocks after becoming AI bottlenecks, noting Marvell’s lower PE ratio (27) compared to competitors like Broadcom (60) and Nvidia (50), suggesting a potential revaluation despite past sideways trading.
Kieran Francis chooses Microsoft, focusing on its undervalued business-to-business segment, particularly Azure cloud services. Despite recent consumer product missteps and a 25% price drop, Azure's rapid growth (41% and 38% in recent quarters) and Microsoft's current PE ratio of 25 (the best in a decade) make it an attractive pick, with potential windfall from its 27% ownership in OpenAI.
Tom Nash makes a 'super non-conservative' pick with Tesla, despite it lagging the S&P 500 over the past five years. He argues that Tesla is often misunderstood, with investors focusing on its automotive business rather than its long-term potential in human robotics, energy, FSD, and robotaxis. The stock's valuation (15x sales) and strong cash flow growth (75% year-over-year) make him bullish on its future.
Mark Rousen picks Alphabet, his largest portfolio position, attributing its recent 65% rise to finally catching up with its peers. He praises Alphabet’s in-house AI development with Gemini, emphasizing its diversified dominance in search (Google, YouTube), advertising, cloud, and autonomous driving (Waymo). Its valuation and 15% annual revenue growth make it a strong, diversified pick.
Mark Rousen selects Nvidia, calling it the 'AI darling' that is often underestimated. Despite its massive past growth, Nvidia is expected to grow earnings by nearly 50% in the next two years, trading at a forward PE of just 24. He highlights its ecosystem around AI, robust operating margin (59%), and expansion into robotics and EVs, making it an extreme value pick in the third round.
Tom Nash surprises with a conservative pick: the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO). Citing Jack Bogle, he advocates for owning the 'haystack' rather than individual stocks, emphasizing the S&P 500's consistent positive returns over long periods and its ability to beat inflation. He sees it as a reliable way to grow wealth without active stock picking, balancing his higher-risk picks.
Kieran Francis’s last pick is Zscaler, focusing on the critical and growing cybersecurity market, particularly zero-trust security. He explains that Zscaler's product is designed for the modern, distributed cloud environment, making it essential as security breaches rise. With cloud growing quickly, Zscaler's alignment and a forward price-to-sales ratio of 8 (cheaper than competitors) present good value and growth potential.
The hosts recap the nine stock picks: Mark Rousen with Amazon, Alphabet, and Nvidia; Tom Nash with Palantir, Tesla, and the S&P 500 ETF; and Kieran Francis with Marvell, Microsoft, and Zscaler. Bridget Bennett expresses surprise that Meta wasn't picked and suggests AMD and drone companies as others to watch for 2026, while Joseph Hogue mentions Super Micro Computer (SMCI) and the iShares Ethereum Trust (ETHA) as overlooked high-growth potential.