With 2025 coming to a close, I’m on the prowl for the best shares to buy for 2026. And I’ve already spotted two US businesses that look strong contenders. So much so that I’ve already invested just shy of £10,000 over the last three months.
A rising fintech
First on the list is Toast (NYSE:TOST). The firm offers a complete restaurant operating system, solving the headaches of digital ordering, reservations, marketing, supply chain management, payroll, accounting, analytics, and even financing.
This all-in-one solution is already deployed at over 156,000 locations with 22,000 added since the start of 2025. And with adoption accelerating, its latest third-quarter results showed 30% revenue expansion, a 147% operating profit surge, and an upgrade to full-year guidance.
Despite this record performance, the shares are actually down by around 8% since the start of the year. Why?
The fear is that with pressure rising on everyday American households, restaurant trips could be cut back. And since Toast makes the bulk of its money by charging a small transaction fee on each order, that signals a potential slowdown.
It’s a valid concern. But it might be overstated.
Even if footfall waivers, the added cost-saving benefits of deploying Toast could turn this into an adoption tailwind, resulting in further location growth offsetting the impact on earnings. That obviously isn’t guaranteed, but at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 27, it’s a risk I’m willing to take.
Getting more exotic
The second stock I’ve been buying is a bit more volatile – Sezzle (NASDAQ:SEZL). Unlike Toast, Sezzle’s been a strong performer in 2025, rising by 20% since the start of the year. Yet at one point, it was up over 300%!
The Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) platform has grown dramatically over the last 12 months, sparking over-enthusiasm that eventually tumbled back to reality. But then the shares kept falling. And now the stock trades at a dirt cheap forward P/E of just 12.8.
Yet once again, the share price doesn’t align with the fundamentals.
Thanks to its subscription-based approach to BNPL, Sezzle has the highest operating profit margins in the industry at 30%. And in its latest results, revenue skyrocketed by 67% paired with a 71% jump in earnings, driven a 53% surge in transactions to 9.5 million during the quarter.
So why’s the market pricing this stock so cheaply? Again, the answer lies in macroeconomics. A weaker US consumer increases the credit risk of Sezzle users not keeping up with payments. And the group’s provisions for credit losses did tick up slightly – a potential early warning sign that this has already started to happen.
However, this uptick seems to be a seasonal shift rather than a structural one. In fact, management actually lowered its credit loss provision guidance for 2025, indicating confidence in the quality of its credit. And if market conditions turn out to be better than investors are expecting, a rebound could emerge.
The bottom line
Out of these stocks, Sezzle’s definitely the riskier investment. But in my opinion, both look like underdogs that could thrive in 2026 once economic conditions stabilise. That’s why I think investors hunting for shares to buy may want to take a closer look at these under-the-radar opportunities. Yet, these aren’t the only shares I’ve been buying lately.
