The Compound and Friends
The Compound and Friends

These Are Wall Street’s Predictions for 2026

December 23, 2025

AI Summary

5 min read

🎙️ The Voices & The Context

  • The Format: This live podcast episode blends host banter with expert guest analysis on finance headlines, tying holiday cheer to a deep dive into market forecasts in an energetic, chart-driven discussion.
  • The Format: Casual chat with guest interview elements.
  • The Key Players:
    • Hosts: Josh Brown and Michael Batnick deliver sharp chemistry through playful ribbing, rapid-fire charts, and shared excitement over market surprises.
    • Guest: Sam Rowe from Ticker Substack, the go-to expert tracking Wall Street strategists' S&P 500 price targets and their quirky forecasting process.

🗝️ Key Themes & Topics

The episode kicks off with holiday wishes before unpacking 2026 market outlooks, 2025 recaps, and forward-looking rotations, blending data with optimism amid AI hype and economic resilience.

  • Topic 1: Wall Street's 2026 S&P 500 Targets. Sam Rowe demystifies strategists' year-end predictions (7,100-8,000 range, implying 3-16% returns), calling them "independent groupthink" and content marketing relics; earnings forecasts prove accurate (within 1% historically), but multiples are the wild card—half now justify 21-26x PEs due to AI productivity and margins.
  • Topic 2: 2025 Market Review & Standouts. Hosts highlight 15 S&P 500 doublers (e.g., Western Digital +569%, Robinhood +250%), Mag 7 contrib

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:00) **🎙️ Introduction: Sam Rowe**
  • 2 (06:14) **Evolution of 2025 Strategist Targets**
  • 3 (10:53) **2026 S&P Targets Overview**
  • 4 (16:43) **Key Strategist Calls & Valuations**
  • 5 (20:46) **AI Bubble Reset & Optimism Drivers**
  • 6 (24:50) **More Strategist Highlights**
  • 7 (29:01) **Post-Guest Earnings & Sector Setup**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

On this TCAF Tuesday, hear an all-new episode of What Are Your Thoughts with ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Downtown Josh Brown⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Michael Batnick⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!


For more from special guest Sam Ro, check out: https://www.tker.co/


This episode is sponsored by Betterment Advisor Solutions and Rocket Money.


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Investing involves the risk of loss. This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be or regarded as personalized investment advice or relied upon for investment decisions. Michael Batnick and Josh Brown are employees of Ritholtz Wealth Management and may maintain positions in the securities discussed in this video. All opinions expressed by them are solely their own opinion and do not reflect the opinion of Ritholtz Wealth Management.


The Compound Media, Incorporated, an affiliate of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ritholtz Wealth Management⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, receives payment from various entities for advertisements in affiliated podcasts, blogs and emails. Inclusion of such advertisements does not constitute or imply endorsement, sponsorship or recommendation thereof, or any affiliation therewith, by the Content Creator or by Ritholtz Wealth Management or any of its employees. For additional advertisement disclaimers see here ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ritholtzwealth.com/advertising-disclaimers⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Investments in securities involve the risk of loss. Any mention of a particular security and related performance data is not a recommendation to buy or sell that security. The information provided on this website (including any information that may be accessed through this webs

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