Josh Brown recommends sticking with these three winning stocks

Josh Brown is recommending investors own Interactive Brokers, Caterpillar, and Delta Air Lines through year-end 2026, citing recent outperformance versus the broader market. The piece is primarily a bullish analyst-style commentary on three individual names rather than new company-specific fundamentals or earnings data. Market impact is likely limited, though it may provide a modest sentiment tailwind for the stocks mentioned.

Analysis

The common thread across these names is not simply momentum; it is that each sits in a different pocket of the late-cycle market where relative strength can become self-reinforcing. IBKR benefits from elevated engagement and market activity, CAT from capex reacceleration and infrastructure/defense spend, and DAL from continued pricing discipline in travel. The second-order effect is that persistent outperformance can keep passive and factor flows anchored in these winners longer than fundamentals alone would justify, especially into year-end when managers chase benchmark-relative winners.

The key risk is that these trades are all more cyclical than the headline narrative implies. IBKR is vulnerable if volatility and retail/active trading volumes normalize, CAT if industrial order books soften as rates bite project starts, and DAL if fuel, labor, or capacity discipline deteriorate faster than fare realization. Time horizon matters: these names can grind higher over weeks on flow, but over months the market will care more about whether earnings revisions remain up and whether forward guidance supports current multiples.

The underappreciated angle is competitive leakage. In fintech, stronger IBKR can pressure brokers with weaker execution economics and less international reach; in industrials, CAT strength can come at the expense of smaller equipment vendors with less pricing power; in airlines, DAL's relative quality could widen the gap versus carriers with weaker balance sheets and less premium exposure. If the market starts paying up for durability, these names can continue to absorb capital from lower-quality peers even without a major macro tailwind.

The contrarian risk is that the move may already be partially crowded because the recommendation validates what the tape has been saying. That raises the chance of a short-term pause or shallow pullback if any one of the three reports in-line rather than better-than-feared. The opportunity is to use that to build positions selectively rather than chase strength into year-end, with the best reward/risk likely in the name where the market is still underestimating earnings durability rather than pure technical momentum.

Key Decisions for Investors

• Maintain a tactical long IBKR into year-end, but prefer buying on 2-4% pullbacks; risk/reward is best if market activity stays elevated and the stock holds relative strength versus broker peers over the next 4-8 weeks.
• Long CAT versus a basket of lower-quality industrials or machinery names; this is a cleaner way to express infrastructure/defense capex without paying for the weaker balance-sheet laggards. Add only if order commentary stays firm into the next earnings window.
• Go long DAL only as a relative-value trade versus a weaker airline peer basket, not as an outright beta bet; upside depends on pricing discipline persisting through the next 1-2 quarters, while downside is sharp if fuel or labor costs reaccelerate.
• Buy IBKR or CAT call spreads 2-4 months out to capture continued momentum while limiting multiple-compression risk; best entry is after any post-recommendation consolidation rather than on immediate strength.
• If you need a hedge, pair long CAT against a short in a more rate-sensitive industrial beneficiary with weaker pricing power; this isolates the capex theme while reducing exposure to macro deceleration.