In this article, we will look at the 7 Affordable Stocks With Good Earnings Growth for 2026.
On December 29, Jeremy Siegel, professor emeritus of finance at the University of Pennsylvania and chief economist at WisdomTree, appeared on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” to talk about the outlook for 2026. He stated that there are a few potential bumps in January, including the Supreme Court perhaps announcing its decision on tariffs, another potential government shutdown, and a potential announcement from President Trump about who the next Fed chairman might be. These are significant factors to consider in addition to the GDP, earnings, and margins. So while the market does need to get through these bumps on the road, if it does so successfully, 2026 looks like a positive year, according to Siegel.
Separately, Tony Pasquariello, Goldman Sachs’ head of hedge fund client coverage, appeared on CNBC’s ‘Closing Bell’ on December 22 to talk about how investors should position their portfolio in 2026.
READ ALSO: 12 Most Widely Held Stocks by Hedge Funds in 2025 and 12 Small Cap Stocks to Buy with Huge Upside Potential.
He was of the view that the big dynamics in the game are still favorable for risk. The Fed would continue to provision more liquidity as we have a cyclical upswing in the economy, and S&P earnings are up 12% next year following around 11% this year. Therefore, Pasquariello thinks that the interplay between the Fed and the economy’s trajectory alongside this earnings growth is affirmative of a bull market and a primary trend that is still higher.
He added that some of the recent broadening, where the burden of leadership has shifted from AI names and mega-cap tech to large-cap cyclicals, is a good thing and consistent with his view that the economy is going to pick up a bit of speed.
With these trends in view, let’s look at the affordable stocks with good earnings growth for 2026.
Our Methodology
We sifted through financial media reports, ETFs, and stock screeners to find undervalued stocks (with a forward P/E below 15) that have good earnings growth expectations for 2026. Additionally, we have mentioned the year-over-year earnings growth for each company. We selected the top 9 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund holders as of Q3 2025, sourcing the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database. The list is sorted in ascending order of hedge fund holders.
Note: All data was recorded on December 29.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 427.7% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 264 percentage points (see more details here).
7 Affordable Stocks With Good Earnings Growth for 2026
7. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS)
EPS Diluted Growth (YoY): 45.84%
EPS Diluted Growth (FWD): 28.17%
Forward P/E: 11.12
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 28
Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is one of the best affordable stocks with good earnings growth for 2026. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) announced on December 17 a collaboration with ExpectAI, which is a pioneering tech company that leverages AI to help small and medium-sized businesses expand their profits through the use of sustainability insights. The company reported that it would begin testing ExpectAI’s Una platform from early 2026, employing publicly available information. The AI-driven platform would create “digital twins” of SME operations, delivering actionable and clear insights.
Una’s objective is to offer businesses specialized energy-efficiency recommendations, an adaptive carbon profile, and connections to verified funding partners and solution providers to expedite implementation. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) further reported that testing would assess the platform’s potential to create value for UK-based businesses, which encompasses how AI-powered business insights can convert sustainability opportunities into measurable improvements in cost efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness.
In a separate development, Kepler Capital reaffirmed a Buy rating on Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) on December 11 and set a price target of p460.00. Similarly, UBS maintained a Buy rating on the stock on December 9 with a p515 price target. Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) also received a rating update from Citi on December 1, with the firm lifting the price target to 440 GBp from 415 GBp while keeping a Neutral rating on the shares.
Headquartered in London, Barclays PLC (NYSE:BCS) is a bank holding company that provides credit cards, retail banking, wealth management, and corporate and investment banking services. Its operations are divided into the following segments: Barclays United Kingdom (UK), Barclays United Kingdom (UK) Corporate Bank, Barclays Private Bank and Wealth Management, Barclays Investment Bank, Barclays United States (US) Consumer Bank, and Head Office.
6. LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM)
EPS Diluted Growth (YoY): 60.40%
EPS Diluted Growth (FWD): 30.69%
Forward P/E: 11.38
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30
LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) is one of the best affordable stocks with good earnings growth for 2026. Barclays reaffirmed a Buy rating on LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) on December 10 and set a price target of $60.00. The rating update came after the company reported its preliminary monthly statistics for November 2025 on December 8, reporting that it transported 7.4 million passengers, reflecting a 4.9% year-over-year growth. Furthermore, it transported 79.6 million passengers between January and November.
LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) added that it expanded its consolidated capacity, measured in available seat-kilometers (ASK), by 4.6% compared to the prior year period, with the growth primarily attributed to an 11.4% growth in LATAM Airlines Brazil’s domestic capacity, along with a 4.0% growth in international operations. Two international routes were inaugurated during the month, including Santiago (Chile) – Belo Horizonte (Brazil) and Bogotá (Colombia) – Belém (Brazil).
Management further reported that consolidated traffic, measured in revenue passenger-kilometers (RPK), grew 3.6% in November, and the domestic market in LATAM Airlines Brazil stood out because of a 12.1% year-over-year increase. Resultantly, LATAM Airlines Group S.A.’s (NYSE:LTM) load factor reached 85.4% in November.
In a separate development, Goldman Sachs lifted the price target on LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) to $58.50 from $50.90 on December 5 and maintained a Buy rating on the stock. The firm told investors that it believes there is room for up to a 14% dividend yield in 2026, based on the firm’s published figures.
LATAM Airlines Group S.A. (NYSE:LTM) provides passenger air transportation and cargo services. The company operates through the Air Transport segment, which corresponds to the route network for air transport.
