In this article, we present the Top 10 Stock Picks of 2026 from Kevin O’Leary’s Portfolio.
Kevin O’Leary’s public investing persona has long leaned toward businesses with cash generation, shareholder returns, and financial discipline rather than high-risk growth stories. That focus is relevant in 2026, as investors continue to balance enthusiasm around artificial intelligence and resilient U.S. corporate earnings against uncertainty tied to interest rates, tariffs, geopolitics, and valuation risk. S&P Global Market Intelligence noted that U.S. dividends are expected to continue expanding in 2026, even as market conditions remain shaped by Federal Reserve policy, trade tensions, the AI investment cycle, and broader macroeconomic uncertainty.
The clearest public window into O’Leary’s stock-investing framework comes through the O’Shares-linked ETF universe rather than a fully disclosed personal brokerage account. O’Shares says it provides indexes for several U.S.-listed ETFs, while ALPS describes the O’Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF as a portfolio built around large- and mid-cap U.S. companies with quality, low-volatility, and dividend-growth characteristics. That makes the portfolio a useful proxy for investors looking at the kind of mature, cash-generating companies associated with O’Leary’s style.
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Methodology
For this article, we used the O’Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF as a public proxy for Kevin O’Leary’s stock-investing framework and selected the ETF’s top holdings by portfolio weight as of June 17, 2026.
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10. Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is one of Kevin O’Leary’s top stock picks for 2026 through the O’Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF. The stock made up 2.91% of the ETF as of June 17, 2026. On June 12, 2026, Merck said the US FDA approved KEYTRUDA and the easier-to-administer KEYTRUDA QLEX, each with WELIREG, for certain kidney cancer patients who have undergone surgery and still face a higher risk of the cancer returning.
For investors, the approval gives Merck another approved use around KEYTRUDA, its flagship cancer drug, while also building WELIREG beyond later-stage treatment. The decision was supported by a late-stage trial of 1,841 patients. In other terms, patients receiving WELIREG with KEYTRUDA were less likely to see their cancer come back, spread, or lead to death than patients receiving KEYTRUDA with a placebo. Merck said the combination reduced that risk by 28%, with 81% of patients alive without disease recurrence at 24 months, compared with 74% in the control group.
Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) is a global pharmaceutical company known as MSD outside the United States and Canada. The company develops medicines and vaccines across oncology, infectious diseases, cardiometabolic disease, immunology, neuroscience, and animal health.
9. McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD)
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is one of Kevin O’Leary’s top stock picks for 2026 through the O’Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF. The stock made up 3.53% of the ETF as of June 17, 2026. On June 1, 2026, McDonald’s introduced McDonald’s > NEXT, a new systemwide strategy aimed at driving growth and restaurant productivity. The company said the plan is built around making McDonald’s the customer’s first choice more often, with a focus on better taste and quality, co-creating with fans, improving restaurant experiences, and raising hospitality standards as more of the ordering process becomes automated.
Reuters reported that the strategy also includes more automation, stronger social media marketing, and an effort to make stores easier to run, with more financial details expected at a September investor event. The update fits McDonald’s push to protect traffic and franchise economics while customers remain sensitive to value after several years of higher food prices globally.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE:MCD) is a global foodservice company with restaurants in more than 100 countries. The company operates through a heavily franchised model, with most restaurants owned and operated by independent local business owners.
8. Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT)
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) is one of Kevin O’Leary’s top stock picks for 2026 through the O’Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF. The stock made up 3.78% of the ETF as of June 17, 2026. On June 9, 2026, Microsoft and KPMG expanded their relationship to deploy Microsoft Agent 365 and Microsoft 365 Copilot across KPMG’s network. KPMG said member firms will roll out Copilot to more than 276,000 professionals worldwide, while using Agent 365 to manage, monitor, and secure AI agents across client work and internal systems.
The deal puts Microsoft’s AI tools inside one of the world’s biggest professional-services networks, where audit, tax, and advisory teams can push clients from small AI tests toward broader production use. KPMG is also using Azure AI Foundry as the base for KPMG Workbench, a platform coordinating multiple AI agents across client-service systems. The expansion strengthens Microsoft’s enterprise AI channel as corporate buyers demand governance, security, and measurable workflow gains.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) develops software, cloud infrastructure, productivity tools, gaming platforms, and artificial intelligence products. Its major businesses include Azure, Microsoft 365, Windows, LinkedIn, Dynamics, GitHub, and Xbox.
7. The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD)
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is one of Kevin O’Leary’s top stock picks for 2026 through the O’Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF. The stock made up 3.87% of the ETF as of June 17, 2026. On May 19, 2026, Home Depot reported first-quarter fiscal 2026 sales of $41.8 billion, up 4.8% from the prior year, while comparable sales rose 0.6% and US comparable sales increased 0.4%.
The modest same-store growth shows a still-muted home improvement backdrop, but the company held its full-year outlook, signaling that demand had not deteriorated beyond management’s expectations. CEO Ted Decker said underlying demand was relatively similar to fiscal 2025 despite greater consumer uncertainty and housing affordability pressure. Home Depot reaffirmed fiscal 2026 guidance for total sales growth of 2.5% to 4.5%, comparable sales growth of flat to 2%, about 15 new stores, and diluted EPS growth of flat to 4% from fiscal 2025, keeping the story centered on resilience rather than acceleration.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE:HD) is the world’s largest home improvement retailer. The company sells building materials, home improvement products, lawn and garden supplies, décor, installation services, tool rentals, and professional contractor products through stores and digital channels.
6. Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA)
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is one of Kevin O’Leary’s top stock picks for 2026 through the O’Shares U.S. Quality Dividend ETF. The stock made up 4.19% of the ETF as of June 17, 2026. On May 15, 2026, Mastercard and JD.com announced a strategic partnership focused on payment infrastructure, cross-border commerce, and fraud prevention. The initial work centers on supporting JD.com’s international business, expanding payment options for overseas visitors in China, and improving checkout, shopping, and tax-refund experiences across JD.com’s e-commerce platforms and retail channels.
The companies also plan to explore a cross-border supply chain finance ecosystem for small and medium-sized businesses, giving Mastercard another path into trade-related payment flows beyond consumer card spending. The partnership also includes risk management, identity authentication, real-time monitoring, and fraud-prevention tools, areas that remain central as digital commerce becomes more global and automated. Mastercard and JD.com also said they would explore agentic AI-powered purchasing through Mastercard Agent Pay and expand co-branded card initiatives.
Mastercard Incorporated (NYSE:MA) is a global payments technology company that connects consumers, merchants, financial institutions, businesses, governments, and digital partners. The company provides payment processing, cybersecurity, data analytics, loyalty, consulting, and money-movement services across more than 200 countries and territories.
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