From biotech to defense, here are 10 top stock picks for 2026 from UBS

Acadia Pharmaceuticals

Ticker: ACAD

2025 return: +46%

Commentary: Biotech firm Acadia Pharmaceuticals is UBS analyst Ashwani Verma's top pick for the healthcare sector. He thinks the company's management is executing on growth initiatives for multiple promising new drugs.

"We believe an upside could come from successful outcome from ACP-204's Alzheimer's disease psychosis (ADP) trial," he said. "Read-out is expected in mid-'26."

Alliant Energy Corp

Ticker: LNT

2025 return: +11%

Commentary: Analyst William Appicelli names power generation company Alliant Energy as his top pick in the utilities sector. He thinks the market is undervaluing the company as it is likely to benefit from the ongoing data center boom in 2026, a view shared by other Wall Street banks.

"Current valuation does not fully capture the 2-4GW of upside opportunities. We expect announcement for service agreements for this load to be incorporated into the capital plans over the next 12 months," he said.

Amazon

Ticker: AMZN

2025 return: +0.3%

Commentary: Amazon is the only Magnificent Seven stock on UBS' list of top picks for 2026.

While it's been outperformed by peers in 2025, analyst Stephen Ju sees it benefiting from theongoing AI boomas well as progress in both sports licensing and same-day delivery in its e-commerce business.

American Tower Corporation

Ticker: AMT

2025 return: -3%

Commentary: While American Tower operates as a real estate investment trust (REIT), its niche position developing and leasing communications infrastructure, such as cellular towers and data centers, makes it attractive.

UBS analyst Batya Levi lists it as the top pick for the Communications Services sector, citing rising 5G deployments and compounding mobile data usage, both of which can set it up for growth in 2025.

Capital One Financial

Ticker: COF

2025 return: +33%

Commentary: Capital One is UBS analyst Erika Najarian's top pick for the financial sector. Capital One stock has enjoyed a strong year already, but Najarian maintains it is likely to keep rising.

"In the case of COF, we see an opportunity for investors to own a vertically integrated payments platform and card juggernaut where COF leverages DFS's credit and debit networks to earn revenue without taking balance sheet or credit risk and lowers its natural cost of funding — driving synergies well beyond typical bank mergers," she said.

PepsiCo

Ticker: PEP

2025 return: -2%

Commentary: PepsiCo stock has struggled this year, but the company beat out its rival Coca-Cola for the position of top-ranked consumer staples stock on the bank's list. Analyst Peter Grom highlighted its high growth potential relative to many of its peers.

"We believe PEP is a buy as the company is one of the only large-cap names in our coverage to be on track to deliver +LSD/+MSD top-line growth and +MSD/+HSD EPS growth, all while trading at a significant relative discount to US large-cap multinational peers (~17.6x vs. ~21.7x 5-yr average)," Grom said.

Deckers Outdoor Corp

Ticker: DECK

2025 return: -50%

Commentary: The outdoor shoes and equipment producer has spent most of the year trending downward, but UBS thinks a turnaround is coming. The bank's analysts see Deckers stock as an opportunity for investors to gain exposure to a strong company before it rebounds.

"We see a very good opportunity to buy shares in a growth company significantly undervalued by the market. We expect DECK's EPS to positively surprise over the NTM due to Hoka and UGG performing better than expected," said UBS' Jay Sole.

The analyst named it as the top pick in the consumer discretionary sector.

General Motors

Ticker: GM

2025 return: +52%

Commentary: The carmaker is UBS' top pick for the automotive industry after a strong trading year. The bank lists it under the broader industrial sector.

Analyst Joseph Spark isn't overly concerned with the struggling EV industry, noting that he sees potential for General Motors to improve its production costs and restructure in a way that minimizes its EV exposure. Spark also believes that GM can benefit from the current economic policy landscape ifinterest ratescontinue to decline.

Ovintiv

Ticker: OVV

2025 return: -6%

Commentary: Ovintiv is an oil and natural gas producer that serves the US and Canada. While the stock has struggled in 2025, analyst Josh Silverstein still rates it as his top pick for the energy sector, noting that recent deals are likely to help the company turn around in 2026.

"The transactions add Montney resource depth, streamlines capital allocation, and most importantly, improves OVV's balance sheet and return of capital profile," he wrote. "We see OVV's current multiple reflecting concerns over its balance sheet and Midland inventory depth."

Woodward Inc.

Ticker: WWD

2025 return: +71%

Commentary: Woodward may not be as well known as its peers in the defense industry, but its year-to-date growth makes it a standout in the sector.

"We see faster revenue growth and better margin expansion than the market expects, with a decade plus of visibility into aftermarket streams on the LEAP/GTF engines," he noted.

Parsons also highlighted the industrial industry's strong power generation tailwinds, noting that fast-growing customers are causing a surge in demand that will likely help boost Woodward stock in the coming year.