By Lauren R. Rublin
From the drums of war to the Board of Peace, 2026 is off to a dramatic start. Just ask Greenland, which nearly became the seventh New England state.
Wall Street, though far from Nuuk, has had its share of drama, too. Long-dormant small-cap stocks have awakened and roared to life this year, sending the Russell 2000 small-cap index up more than 9% in just three weeks. Meanwhile, large-cap tech stocks, so beloved for the past three years, suddenly can't get a bid. Perhaps the only 2025 investment trend still intact is the mighty rally in gold, which has gained 13% in price since Jan. 1 as more investors seek a haven from chaos, real or imagined.
As the winds of change blow, the members of the Barron's Roundtable do what they have always done best: stay focused on the search for investment bargains. Our third and final report from the 2026 Roundtable, held Jan. 5 in New York, highlights 30 stocks favored by our four remaining panelists: Gabelli Funds' Mario Gabelli, GQG Partners' Rajiv Jain, Delphi Management's Scott Black, and Abby Joseph Cohen, a longtime Goldman Sachs strategist who is now a professor of business at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business.
If there is a theme to this latest list of picks, which includes U.S. and international issues, it is a focus on undervalued industry sectors such as utilities, energy, and consumer staples, and businesses that can help themselves, whether through more investment or transformative deals. That seems just the ticket these days, whether you're a company or a country.
Read on for the edited details.
Barron's: Mario, which stocks excite you most this year?
Mario Gabelli: I'll start with live entertainment and sports. On Thanksgiving weekend, 55 million-plus people watched the Kansas City Chiefs versus Dallas Cowboys football game. The Super Bowl is coming up, and this summer we'll have the soccer World Cup. My point is, a lot of money is spent on experiences and live sports. My first stock is Atlanta Braves Holdings. The ticker is BATRA.
You have been saying that for a while.
Gabelli: The 10.3 million A shares are selling for $42.50. There are 51 million nonvoting shares. John Malone owns most of the roughly one million supervoting B shares, and has 49% of the voting stock. A change is coming to Section 162(m) of the tax code that will limit tax deductions taken by public companies on compensation of more than $1 million paid not only to named executive officers but the five other highest-paid employees. Management will have to figure that out.
After renewal of the collective bargaining agreement with the Braves this year, we believe the company will be sold. We think the Braves will fetch more than $60 a share in a deal that also includes the real estate around the stadium.
What's your second?
Gabelli: Next, let's talk about Madison Square Garden Sports. The New York Knicks were recently valued at around $10 billion by Forbes, and the Rangers, at around $4 billion. Divide the total by 24.1 million shares and you have a $500-a-share stock, which currently trades for $250. The CEO, James Dolan, who owns all of the 4.5 million B shares and has 71% of the vote, could sell a piece of the company and use the money to buy back stock, and he doesn't have to sell the teams to realize a higher valuation.
My next name, Manchester United, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The company has 174 million shares, and closed Friday [Jan. 2] at $15.78. Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought what is now a 29% stake in 2024 from the controlling Glazer family. He paid $33 a share. If the Glazers sell the company within three years at a lower price, he'll get his money back. If they sell at a higher price, everyone will do well. That deal expires in February 2027. We think something will happen. There is enormous global interest in soccer.
Something as in, a sale of the company at a higher price?
Gabelli: Yes. The team's stadium requires capital. No detailed financing structure has been disclosed for the new stadium beyond the statement that it will be "privately funded." But we think investors could double their money in 2 1/2 years when the Glazers are willing to sell the company. They own 50% and control the voting stock.
We have owned Grupo Televisa, the Spanish-language broadcaster, for a while. The company spun off Ollamani, its sports and gaming business, in 2024. Ollamani trades on the Mexican stock exchange and has American depositary receipts selling for $4.40. There are 145 million shares. Ollamani just formed a partnership with General Atlantic to own the soccer team Club America and its stadium in Mexico City and adjacent land. Bob Kraft's Kraft Analytics Group is also part of the deal. This is an example of interest in sports teams. As illustrated by this and other recent transactions involving The Los Angeles Lakers and New York Giants, sports are hot and increasingly interesting to institutional investors.
Rogers Communications trades at around $38 a share and there are 540 million shares. About 111 million of the voting A shares are mostly in the family name. Rogers provides telecom and cable service in Canada, and owns 75% of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Toronto Blue Jays, Maple Leafs, Raptors, and other assets. The company has publicly expressed an interest in buying the other 25% of MLSE.
We think investors would do well to buy a basket of publicly traded sports teams and related assets, including through Rogers. Why would I have my clients take a limited-partnership interest in private-equity-backed sports investments? They would pay substantial fees, have no liquidity, and no apparent exit strategy. To my mind, you can buy shares in the public companies I recommended and create your own sports portfolio.
So, how do I watch sports?
You tell us.
Gabelli: There is a company named Fox, which you might know. [Fox and News Corp, Barron's owner, share common ownership.] The voting stock is trading for $65. There are 440 million shares, of which 235 million are voting. The Murdoch family controls 43% of the vote. Fox recently launched a $1.5 billion ASR, or accelerated stock repurchase program, buying back $700 million of the nonvoting shares and $800 million of the voting stock. The repurchase program is expected to be completed during the second half of fiscal 2026, which ends in June.
Earnings in fiscal 2025 benefited from advertising during an election year. The ad market remains solid for live sports and news, in line with Fox's core business focus areas. Fox's sports assets have key nights like NFL [National Football League games] and MLB [Major League Baseball games]. Fox has low leverage, along with the buyback, sports-betting assets, a tax shield, and a studio lot in Los Angeles. Fox won't have elections as a driver of earnings in the current fiscal year, but it has the televised rights to the World Cup. I have recommended Fox before, and still like it. I recommend buying the voting stock.
Versant Media Group was spun off today [Jan. 5] from Comcast. It is another media name we like. Because it isn't in the S&P 500, index funds had to sell it, and the stock immediately dropped by about $7 a share. There could be more selling this week. We are buying the shares into continued weakness.
Versant has roughly 145 million shares and $2.5 billion of net debt. It is going to earn more than $2 billion of Ebitda [earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization] this year. We like the CEO, Mark Lazarus. The company owns cable networks and digital properties. It produces sports programming and owns CNBC. Versant will pay down debt within two years and generate a lot of cash.
Next, I'm going to pivot to utilities. I have recommended National Fuel Gas previously. It is based in Buffalo, N.Y. The company has about 95 million shares outstanding, and the stock is selling for $81 a share. NFG pays an annual dividend of $2.14 a share.
The regulatory backdrop in states such as New York, California, and Hawaii is challenging at times. Heaven is states like Indiana, which David discussed [in the second Roundtable installment]. Pennsylvania is also positive. NFG has roughly 750,000 customers in western New York and northwest Pennsylvania. It is buying a gas distributor business in western Ohio for $2.6 billion from CenterPoint Energy, which David also recommended earlier today. NFG management is conservative, and sold some stock in advance to pay for the equity portion of the deal.
Why do you still like the company, and the stock?
Gabelli: There are two reasons. National Fuel Gas owns roughly 1.2 million acres in the Appalachian Basin, with substantial mineral ownership overlying the Marcellus and Utica shales. About 33% of U.S. gas comes from Appalachia. Natural gas provides 40% of the electric power used in the U.S. The value of gas reserves strategically located near population centers is unappreciated. NFG can use increasing levels of free cash flow to invest in the regulated utility business or split up the company.
NFG is expected to earn around $7 a share in this fiscal year. It could earn $9 a share the following year. We put the company's private market value at 50% higher than the current price. If analysts who follow utility stocks put a 16 multiple on NFG's pro forma utility earnings, the stock will trade even higher.
Now, I have two stocks that I put in the dumpster category. They are down sharply from their highs. Albany International was selling for $52.34 on Jan. 2. It is $55 today. There are 28.7 million shares. The stock jumped on the U.S. capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro because of its inclusion in commercial aviation and defense portfolios.
What does Albany make?
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January 23, 2026 21:30 ET (02:30 GMT)
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