New Year NAPS - Top Stocks for 2026 and Why Value Investing Still Matters

It's been quite an eventful year in markets. Most of the market-moving headlines came from across the pond with the Trump tariff tumble in April this year and the huge AI investment theme that's turned heads - bubble or not.
Against that backdrop, many investors have given up on UK shares. We continue to see a drip drip of delistings, either to relist in the USA or to takeover bids. And there’s very little IPO activity to refill the hopper. It all feeds the same narrative - that the UK is shrinking, unloved, and best avoided.
Nonetheless, this sort of environment is manna from heaven for a value investor. And it's in this climate that my own systematic UK Model Portfolio, the NAPS, has had another remarkable year with a 37% capital return. This return has dominated the UK indices and the Samp;P 500 once again.
So in this piece, now something of an annual tradition, I want to share three things.

First, we’ll dig into what’s driven the excellent results over the past year.
Next, we’ll step back and revisit the core investing principles.
Then, we’ll lay out the 2026 portfolio rules and the current candidate stocks.

I can’t predict what will happen in...