It's been a spectacular three years for Wall Street. When the closing bell rang on Dec. 31, the benchmark S&P 500 (^GSPC 1.54%) recorded a 16% gain for 2025, marking the third consecutive year it's rallied by at least 15%. This is only the third time in its storied history that it's advanced by 15% (or more) for three consecutive years.
Although there's no denying that the stock market is historically pricey, this doesn't mean value can't be found. It just requires a little more digging and vetting by investors.
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With most online brokers removing minimum deposit requirements and offering commission-free trades on major U.S. exchanges, it's easier than ever to invest. Any amount of money -- even $1,000 -- can be the ideal amount to put to work in the world's greatest wealth-creating machine.
If you have $1,000 to invest, and this isn't money you'll need to cover bills or emergencies (should they arise), the following three stocks stand out as no-brainer buys right now for the new year.
AT&T
Amid a historically pricey stock market, companies that can provide supercharged dividends, clear value, and predictable operating cash flow tend to be sought after. This combination of factors is what makes telecom titan AT&T (T +0.63%) such a genius buy in 2026.
Although AT&T isn't going to knock anyone's socks off with its growth rate, two catalysts are undeniably working in its favor. For starters, the expansion of 5G wireless networks into rural areas has provided the company's core operating platform with slow but steady sales growth.
NYSE: T
Key Data Points
Arguably, the more important catalyst has been the surge in broadband customer growth in recent years. AT&T has been consistently adding at least 200,000 net fiber customers each quarter for years, which, during the September-ended quarter, resulted in a 16.8% increase in consumer fiber broadband revenue. Even though broadband isn't the growth story it was when the 21st century began, it does provide predictable cash flow and encourages high-margin service bundling that keeps customers loyal to the AT&T brand.
Furthermore, AT&T's management team has done an exceptional job of de-leveraging the balance sheet. As of the end of March 2022, AT&T had $169 billion in net debt. But following the disposition of its content operations, its net debt has declined to less than $119 billion, as of Sept. 30, 2025. This reduced leverage enables AT&T to go on the offensive and expand its higher-margin fiber network.
The icing on the cake for AT&T is its ultra-high-yield dividend and inexpensive valuation, compared to the broader market. AT&T's 4.6% dividend yield appears to be rock-solid (especially with its reduced leverage), and its forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 10.8 is less than half that of the S&P 500's forward P/E.
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The Trade Desk
A second no-brainer stock that makes for a genius buy with $1,000 in the new year is adtech giant The Trade Desk (TTD 2.75%), which was the worst-performing member of the benchmark S&P 500 in 2025.
The Trade Desk didn't shed 68% of its value in 2025 by accident. It's the result of President Donald Trump's tariffs adversely impacting the marketing needs of some of The Trade Desk's top clients. Investors dislike uncertainty -- and that dislike is often compounded for growth stocks trading at a premium multiple to their earnings per share.
The silver lining is that tariffs are more than likely just a temporary shock. Even if President Trump's tariffs are here to stay, businesses are going to figure out how to adapt. When examining multi-decade periods, economic expansions last substantially longer than downturns. With advertising being a highly cyclical industry, it means The Trade Desk will spend a disproportionate amount of its time benefiting from lengthy periods of economic growth.
NASDAQ: TTD
Key Data Points
Another factor working in The Trade Desk's favor is the ongoing adoption of its Unified ID 2.0 technology as an alternative to traditional tracking cookies. UID2 is an open-source, digital identity framework that advertisers can use to target their messaging. The more UID2 can demonstrate its value to advertisers, the more likely it is that additional businesses will choose The Trade Desk's programmatic ad platform.
There's also a value proposition with The Trade Desk that arguably never existed before. Last year's plunge in the company's shares has valued it at less than 18 times forward-year earnings, despite a projected sales growth rate in the mid-to-high teens.
NextEra Energy
The third no-brainer stock that can be confidently bought with $1,000 right now for the new year is America's largest electric utility by market value, NextEra Energy (NEE +0.60%). Including dividends paid, NextEra has generated a positive total return for its shareholders in 21 of the last 24 years.
Similar to AT&T, what NextEra Energy brings to the table for its shareholders is unparalleled revenue and cash flow predictability. The demand for electricity doesn't change much from one year to the next. What's more, most utilities operate as monopolies or duopolies in the areas they serve. Since homeowners can't shop around, NextEra doesn't have to worry about any other company siphoning away its customers.
NYSE: NEE
Key Data Points
However, what sets NextEra apart from the dozens of other publicly traded electric utilities is its focus on renewable energy. No electric utility is generating more capacity from solar and wind power than NextEra. While these investments were costly, they've paid off in the form of lower electricity generation costs and an earnings growth rate in the high single digits. For context, most electric utilities grow their earnings by a low single-digit percentage annually.
NextEra Energy also has the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution as a tailwind. As businesses aggressively ramp up their AI compute capabilities, electricity demand from data centers is climbing.
Last but not least, NextEra strikes a nice balance between income and value for investors. The company has increased its base annual dividend for 31 consecutive years and is sporting a forward P/E ratio of less than 20.
