It's been a wild ride for the stock market through the first five months of 2025. As of mid-February, Wall Street's major stock indexes could do no wrong, with the benchmark S&P 500 vaulting to an all-time record-closing high. But over the next two months, tariff-related uncertainty pushed the Nasdaq Composite into its first bear market in three years, and weighed the S&P 500 down to near-bear market territory.
Historically, double-digit percentage declines in the major stock indexes represent ideal opportunities for long-term investors to pounce.
As of this writing on June 2, I hold 38 positions in my portfolio -- 37 stocks and one exchange-traded fund (ETF) -- and only four of these stakes have been held for less than a year. Buying and holding stocks for years is ingrained into my investment philosophy.
With volatility begetting opportunity, here are all six stocks I've bought through the first five months of 2025.
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1. Pfizer
One of the new holdings I added to my portfolio this year is pharmaceutical titan Pfizer (PFE 1.73%). The two separate purchases I've made gave me a cost basis of $23.47 per share, which is a penny above where shares closed on June 2.
What makes Pfizer so attractive is that it's been punished for its own success. After generating north of $56 billion in combined sales for its COVID-19 vaccine (Comirnaty) and oral therapy (Paxlovid) in 2022, combined sales tumbled to around $11 billion in 2024. But even if these sales fall again in 2025, Pfizer has, collectively, grown its net product revenue by more than 50% over four years. The shortsightedness of select investors is creating a significant buying opportunity for long-term-minded investors.
Additionally, Pfizer's oncology segment can be a key growth driver in the years to come. It completed a $43 billion acquisition of cancer-drug developer Seagen in December 2023. This deal added more than $3 billion in immediate sales to Pfizer's oncology portfolio, as well as vastly expanded its pipeline.
With Pfizer also targeting billions of dollars in annual cost-savings, a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of less than 8, coupled with a dividend yield of more than 7%, was too enticing to pass up.
2. PubMatic
The stock I've unquestionably put the most money to work in this year is adtech company PubMatic (PUBM -1.84%). I've more than doubled my stake in the company since late February, with a cost basis from shares purchased this year of $9.29.
PubMatic is perfectly positioned to take advantage of businesses shifting their ad dollars from print and billboards to digital channels, such as video, mobile, and connected TV (i.e., streaming content). PubMatic's cloud-based programmatic ad platform assists publishers in selling their digital display space.
Aside from digital advertising offering sustained double-digit sales growth, PubMatic will benefit from its decision to build out its cloud infrastructure platform. Though it would have been easier to rely on a third party, taking the time to build out this critical infrastructure will now allow PubMatic to hang onto more of its revenue as it scales. This should lead to superior margins, relative to other sell-side providers.
Furthermore, PubMatic is swimming with cash. It's been generating positive operating cash flow for a decade and has been aggressively repurchasing its own stock. When backing out its cash position, investors are paying less than $9 per share for a company fully capable of producing more than $1 in earnings per share in a thriving economy.
3. Sirius XM Holdings
Although the stock market is historically pricey, select value stocks can be found. Satellite-radio operator Sirius XM Holdings (SIRI 1.02%) certainly fits the bill. The one add I made to my existing Sirius XM stake came at $19.28 per share on April 4.
The great thing about Sirius XM is that it's a legal monopoly. Even though it's still fighting for listeners with traditional radio companies, being the only licensed satellite-radio operator does afford the company some degree of subscription pricing power.
Even more important, Sirius XM generates the bulk of its revenue differently than terrestrial and online radio companies. Whereas the latter are heavily reliant on advertising, Sirius XM generates a little over three-quarters of its net sales from subscriptions. When recessions do occur, subscribers are far less likely to cancel their service than businesses are to meaningfully pare back their ad spending. On paper, this makes Sirius XM's operating cash flow far more predictable.
Sirius XM's forward P/E of 7, when combined with a dividend yield that's currently above 5%, makes for a tantalizing buy.
Image source: Getty Images.
4. Intel
Semiconductor behemoth Intel (INTC 1.38%) is another long-term holding that I chose to add to during President Donald Trump's tariff-induced market swoon. The lone addition was made on April 8 at $18.56.
My wager on Intel is that management can eventually turn around a business that was late to the artificial intelligence (AI) party. While Intel's graphics processing units (GPUs) haven't exactly flown off the shelves like Nvidia's hardware, AI is a massive enough addressable market that even latecomers with established brand names can thrive.
Despite its GPU tardiness, Intel's central processing units (CPUs) continue to play a key role in high-compute data centers and traditional desktops/laptops. Even with Advanced Micro Devices chipping away at Intel's once monopoly like CPU market share, Intel remains the decisive leader. The robust cash flow generated from its CPU sales can help Intel redirect capital to higher-growth initiatives.
While trading in the mid-$18s, Intel stock was also nearing its tangible book value and had fallen 19% below its listed book value, as of the most recent quarter. Though book value is just one of many valuation measures, I believe there are enough levers to pull and long-term catalysts for Intel stock to bounce back.
5. BioMarin Pharmaceutical
Specialty drugmaker BioMarin Pharmaceutical (BMRN 2.79%) is another holding I've purchased for the first time in 2025. My lone purchase occurred on April 8 at a cost basis of $56.01.
One of the variables that makes BioMarin such an attractive investment is its focus on ultrarare diseases. Though the clinical success rate in treating rare diseases can be dicey, positive clinical trials can lead to approved therapies that face little or no competition. What's more, insurers rarely push back on high list prices for rare-disease drugs that have no alternatives.
BioMarin's shining star for the moment is Voxzogo, a drug used to treat achondroplasia, which is a common type of dwarfism. A combination of strong pricing power and label expansion opportunities should lead to Voxzogo eventually topping $1 billion in annual sales.
Further, BioMarin is targeting $4 billion in annual sales by 2027, which would be up from $2.85 billion in reported sales for 2024. Given the exceptionally high margins associated with ultrarare-disease drugs, BioMarin's forward P/E of 10.6, and its projected low-double-digit sales growth rate, make its stock quite the bargain.
Fastly has been generating positive cash from its operations more consistently in recent quarters. FSLY Cash from Operations (Quarterly) data by YCharts.
6. Fastly
Last but not least, I added to my existing position in edge cloud-computing company Fastly (FSLY 2.32%) during the Trump tariff tumble. The only addition came on April 4 at a cost of $5.08 per share.
Similar to Intel, Fastly is a work in progress that isn't going to right itself overnight. The investment thesis here is that as businesses shift their data and that of their customers online and into the cloud, demand for rapid and secure content delivery network (CDN) services will only increase. Fastly aggressively expanded the capabilities of its CDN following the pandemic.
Although not all of Fastly's key performance indicators (KPIs) have moved in the right direction, some of the most important KPIs suggest management is making the right moves. For instance, its revenue retention rate is locked in at 99% or higher, and its enterprise customer count, while a bit volatile, has been chopping its way higher.
Perhaps the most exciting number in Fastly's latest quarter is its remaining performance obligation (i.e., its backlog), which surged above $300 million. Considering that Fastly is generating positive operating cash flow, the foundation for future profits has been laid.
