Want To Buy Stocks In 2025? There's One Conflicting Place To Find Winners, Analyst Says

If you’re analyzing contrarian opportunities in 2025, this list is worth studying. It highlights names that, despite widespread skepticism, have been outperforming more popular picks.

In a year when Wall Street’s darlings have stumbled, some of the most unloved names in the S&P 500 are quietly delivering gains that put high-conviction buys to shame—and the data may challenge how investors think about analyst ratings.

In a newsletter sent Tuesday, DataTrek Research spotlighted what it called "a truly remarkable list": the 10 S&P 500 companies with the highest share of ‘Sell’ ratings from analysts.

“History and year-to-date returns suggest it is a good place to look for longs,” analysts suggested.

The Contrarian Play: Most-Hated, Yet Outperforming

“Wall Street analysts don’t put ‘Sell’ on many stocks,” Datatrek wrote.

FactSet data shows that of the 12,320 ratings issued on S&P 500 stocks, 55.7% are Buys, 38.7% are Holds, and only 5.6% are Sells.

“The percentage of Buy ratings is above its 5-year (month-end) average of 55.0%. The percentage Hold ratings is below its 5-year (month-end) average of 39.1%. The percentage of Sell ratings is also below its 5-year (month-end) average of 5.9%,” FactSet said.

Here are the 10 S&P 500 stocks with the highest percentage of Sell ratings:

Company	Buy	Hold	Sell
Franklin Resources, Inc. BEN	0%	60%	40%
VeriSign, Inc. VRSN	40%	20%	40%
Expeditors Intl. of Washington, Inc. EXPD	0%	61%	39%
T. Rowe Price Group TROW	6%	59%	35%
Paramount Global Class B PARA	13%	52%	35%
FactSet Research Systems Inc. FDS	17%	50%	33%
Lennox International Inc. LII	24%	43%	33%
Garmin Ltd. GRMN	10%	60%	30%
Consolidated Edison, Inc. ED	6%	65%	29%
Southwest Airlines Co. LUV	20%	52%	28%

As counterintuitive as it may seem, an equal-weighted portfolio of these “Sell-rated” stocks would have returned 3.89% year-to-date through March 25, 2025.

Here’s how the individual “Sell” stocks performed:

Name	Total Return (YTD)
Consolidated Edison, Inc.	19.35%
VeriSign, Inc.	18.78%
Paramount Global	11.45%
Expeditors International of Washington, Inc.	6.88%
Garmin Ltd.	6.33%
Southwest Airlines Co.	3.72%
Franklin Resources, Inc.	-1.33%
Lennox International Inc.	-3.62%
FactSet Research Systems Inc.	-8.25%
T. Rowe Price Group, Inc.	-14.42%
Average	3.89%

That performance handily beats the -2.36% decline of the S&P 500, as tracked by the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY, and it's miles ahead of the -10% drop in the Magnificent Seven cohort, tracked by the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF MAGS.

The "Buy" Darlings Didn't Deliver

Now, contrast that with the 10 most-loved stocks in the S&P 500 — the ones with the highest percentage of Buy ratings.

This basket includes mega-cap giants like Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, Nvidia Corp. NVDA, and Microsoft Corp. MSFT, all ranked in the top tier for analyst sentiment.

But the returns tell a different story. An equal-weighted portfolio of these "Buy-rated" favorites would have lost 4.44% so far in 2025.

Company	Buy	Hold	Sell	YTD Return
UnitedHealth Group UNH	97%	0%	3%	+1.97%
Delta Air Lines DAL	96%	0%	4%	-19.34%
VICI Properties VICI	96%	4%	0%	+9.77%
Microsoft Corp.	95%	5%	0%	-6.08%
Amazon.com Inc.	95%	5%	0%	-6.22%
Nvidia Corp.	93%	7%	0%	-10.14%
United Airlines Holdings Inc. UAL	92%	4%	4%	-18.75%
Trimble Inc. TRMB	92%	8%	0%	-0.27%
Synopsys Inc. SNPS	91%	9%	0%	-5.79%
Teledyne Technologies Inc. TDY	91%	9%	0%	+10.41%
Average	—	—	—	-4.44%

Bottom line, the trend offers a striking insight: being unloved by analysts doesn't necessarily doom a stock to underperformance.

In fact, in a year marked by pullbacks in big tech and sector rotations, contrarian plays are quietly thriving.

For those willing to swim against the tide, Wall Street's least-favored stocks may hold the key to outperformance this year.

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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.