Forget the High-Beta Hype: 10 ‘Sleep Well at Night’ Stocks to Buy Now

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The S&P 500 fell more than 4% on Thursday, November 5, its worst day since the April 2025 tariff crash, erasing roughly $3 trillion in market value. The Nasdaq slid into a correction, and the PHLX Semiconductor Index dropped 12%, its worst session since March 2020.

The shock rippled well beyond one session, and Friday brought only partial relief. The S&P 500 closed at 7,376.86, up 0.31%, but the index was still on pace for its worst week since June. The VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, settled at 25.64 after jumping as much as 70% a day earlier.

When a Fear Gauge Spikes, Steadiness Gets Valuable

Yahoo Finance’s Brian Sozzi noted that a one-day VIX surge of that size has happened only eight times since 1991. After those episodes, the S&P 500 averaged a gain of 3.0% one month later and 7.1% three months later. History leans against panic, yet it does little to smooth the ride for portfolios packed with fast-moving names. Those portfolios absorb the drawdowns first, and the drawdowns are what test an investor’s patience.

That is why beta matters. Beta is an indicator of a stock’s price volatility compared with the broader market, which carries a beta of 1.0 when measured by an index such as the S&P 500. A reading below one means the stock’s price has been more stable than the market’s, so a stock with a beta of 0.5 would have risen or fallen only half a percent when the index moved 1%. Investors weighing quality against momentum can find more ideas in our ranking of the best undervalued stocks to buy in October.

Cheap and Growing Is a Rarer Combination Than It Sounds

The forward price-to-earnings ratio divides a share price by the earnings per share analysts expect over roughly the next 12 months. It notes that no forward P/E is universally good because the ratio varies by industry, though a lower figure may suggest a stock is undervalued relative to its future earnings potential. Revenue growth of at least 5% adds a second test, since a low multiple on a shrinking business may simply mean it is cheap for a reason. Together, the two screens look for companies that are still growing at a modest price.

The recent selloff was concentrated in the AI and data-center trade, with chipmakers hit hardest and few places to hide for investors chasing momentum. Companies with little exposure to that spending sit in a different corner of the market, and precious metals producers are one such group. Our list of the best gold stocks according to analysts covers more of it.

Forget the High-Beta Hype: 10 ‘Sleep Well at Night’ Stocks to Buy Now

Our Methodology

We used Finviz to screen for large-cap stocks (over $10 billion) with a beta below 1, a forward P/E under 15, and quarterly revenue growth above 5% year over year. We kept those that beat the S&P 500 over the past week, ranked them by their 5-day return, and counted the list down from there. We also list each stock’s hedge fund holders as of Q2 2026.

Note: All data was sourced on November 8, 2026.

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. Insider Monkey’s quarterly newsletter strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 612% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 375 percentage points (see more details here).

Forget the High-Beta Hype: 10 ‘Sleep Well at Night’ Stocks to Buy Now

10. Fox (NASDAQ:FOX)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 39

Market Cap: $26.54 billion

Beta: 0.63

Forward P/E: 10.09

Revenue Growth (YoY): 22.28%

5-Day Return: 5.87%

Fox just posted first-quarter records for both revenue and adjusted EBITDA. Revenue climbed 22%, and advertising revenue jumped 47% as the company broadcast the FIFA World Cup, sold more political advertising ahead of the midterm elections, and kept expanding its free streaming service, Tubi. Part of that jump is one-time, since the World Cup and election spending do not repeat every quarter.

The rest looks more durable. Distribution revenue, the fees cable and satellite providers pay to carry Fox’s channels, also grew on contractual rate increases and more subscribers. Tubi’s own revenue rose 35%, and management said the strong trends continued into the current quarter. Subscriber sign-ups for its Fox One streaming service also grew in September as football season began.

Fox is also making a large bet on streaming. It has completed its roughly $22 billion acquisition of Roku, bringing one of the largest streaming platforms into the company. Meanwhile, Fox generated free cash flow in the quarter and expects to resume share repurchases in the current fiscal quarter. A low forward P/E and a beta well below 1 make the shares a lower-volatility way to own that momentum.

Read our analysis on Fox (FOX) here: Fox (FOXA) Faces a Deeper DOJ Review of Roku (ROKU). Can the Deal Still Deliver?

9. Omnicom Group (NYSE:OMC)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 45

Market Cap: $23.57 billion

Beta: 0.71

Forward P/E: 7.57

Revenue Growth (YoY): 59.09%

5-Day Return: 6.29%

Omnicom is showing the payoff from its Interpublic acquisition. In the third quarter, organic revenue in its core operations grew 7.2%, the adjusted EBITA margin widened to 18.2%, and adjusted earnings per share rose 22%. Reported revenue grew far faster, but mostly because the acquisition added Interpublic’s business, so organic growth is the cleaner gauge. Management said it is realizing the anticipated synergies.

Scale is the competitive edge. The chief executive called Omnicom the largest media buyer, a position that gives it leverage to deliver better commercial outcomes for clients. The company also pairs data-informed creative work with measurable results, and it says it will keep investing in its people and agentic technology to defend that edge.

The balance sheet is improving too. Total leverage, adjusted pro forma for the acquisition, was 2.3 times at the end of the quarter, down from a year earlier, even as the company carried debt assumed in the deal. It also expects to complete its remaining disposals in the near future, which would simplify the portfolio. A single-digit forward P/E and a low beta mean the market is pricing this integration story cheaply.

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