Winners, Losers, Wild Opinions: Benzinga Chat, Show Co-Host Look At 2025, 2026

Benzinga · 12/31/2025 21:06

If you have ever watched — or participated in — the Benzinga Pro Lounge (or any sort of live forum), they can be a rollicking places where readers and traders share information or — as the saying goes — let it rip about stocks, Elon Musk and any other topic that affects trading or life.

• Where is RACE stock headed?

So, how was their 2025? Depending on who you ask, good, not so good, bad. But, for 2026, they may be looking forward to a few things.

Ryan Faloona, who you may know as a co-host on Benzinga's Pre-Market Playbook and Happy Hour, as well as his more formal title of director of customer success for Benzinga Pro, also chimed in with his own thoughts, as well as contributed those from participants on Benzinga forums. (Some edits for clarity.)

Thoughts on 2025 from various Benzinga Chat-ters:

• Up 2025: $RACE, (FerrariNV), $IP (International Paper), $AOS (AO Smith Corp.)

• Down 2025: $TPR (Tapestry), $DASH (DASH), $SPOT (Spotify Technology SA)

$RACE: Already took its beating more by buybacks, incoming price holding without buybacks this month.

$IP: Streamlining their business; box inflation, boxes rule the world and the company makes them.

$AOS: Water heaters, tanks water treatment, the majority of business is here in America; they supply the things people need, not want, in terms of how homes and businesses work.

$TPR: Overvalued poor people luxury brands when poor people can't afford car payments.

$DASH: The business and human trends say this is future conversation of, if you will remember DoorDash.

$SPOT: No evolution, doesn't have a moat, prices increasing with no added features for like eight years now; it’s the same platform and has peaked.

2026 from TheVinylGuy:

For 2026, $TSLA (Tesla) on its way back to 200, lol (he wrote as a joke, just to be clear!) and $GSIT (GSI Technology) is having a day.

I think 2026 will see an escalation of the China/Taiwan issue, which will cause swings in semis…

Faloona's 2026 choices included:

$AAPL (Apple) down and $XOM (ExxonMobil) up in 2026.

More upside:

$DG (Dollar General): I like the lower exposure to tariffs and the rising demand for consumer bargains as inflation persists. I also think it’s pretty fairly valued for now and could see a correction to the 20 Day SMA soon. The company has been experiencing positive EPS growth for the past few quarters and is expected to continue, according to the company’s guidance earlier this month.

$ET (Energy Transfer): A big player in not only unleashing American energy, but also supplying new electrical power plants and data centers. It has been in a downtrend since the end of January 2025 and could still see prints around $14.50, give or take 25 cents. Another downside includes energy contracts with $ORCL (Oracle) if more debt concerns arise. However, even at this price, I think the company is undervalued with what the future holds for energy demand, particularly NG.

More downside:

$UAL (United Airlines Holdings): The stock is up over 18% year-to-date, but it is up almost 120% since the Liberation Day unwind. The fuel crisis in the West Coast could result in fewer flights in and out of that entire region; a massive hit to revenue. The stock could trade higher into next year, but it is approaching oversold on longer time frames.

Photo: Alones via Shutterstock