Why These 3 Mega-Caps Could Still Surprise Investors in 2026

Key Points

• Nothing catches the eye of growth investors like pure play AI stocks such as Palantir, which saw earnings growth of 129% last year.  
• Despite their allure, pure AI plays are inherently more volatile and prone to dramatic price swings.  
• Over the past five years, Visa, Walmart, and Amazon have demonstrated reliable and sustainable EPS growth.

Pure play AI stocks continued to shine last year as the S&P 500 finished 2025 with its third consecutive double-digit gain. 

But while high-flying stocks like Palantir NASDAQ: PLTR generated earnings per share (EPS) growth of approximately 129% over the past year, tech’s volatility makes forward-looking growth less predictable. 

That doesn’t mean that buy-and-hold investors need to sacrifice growth in favor of perceived safety. Identifying stocks that can give your portfolio both can go a long way. 

The following three stocks—which span the financials, consumer staples, and consumer discretionary sectors—have maintained a track record of steady growth over the past five years, and analysts expect that consistency to continue over the next five years. 

Visa: Payments Scale Still Sets the Pace

While Mastercard NYSE: MA and American Express NYSE: AXP continue to serve as its primary competitors, Visa NYSE: V remains the largest payment processor, controlling an estimated 50% to 52% of the U.S. market. 

Visa, which gained 13% over the past five years, isn’t what most investors think of when looking for growth stock opportunities.

But the company’s five-year average annual EPS growth stands at approximately 16%, with analysts forecasting around 13.5% average annual EPS growth for the next five years. 

Part of that has to do with the Trump administration’s deregulatory platform, which bodes well for banking stocks. But Visa’s net income track record over the past five years also plays a role. During that time, the company has seen its profits rise from $12.3 billion in 2021 to $20.1 billion in 2025—a more than 63% increase. 

Another factor: Visa is expanding into crypto-linked payment cards, a business line that increased from $14.6 million in January 2025 to $91.3 million by December 2025—a 525% increase.

At more than 82%, institutional ownership remains high while short interest stands at just 1.37%. Of the 28 analysts covering the stock, 24 assign it a Buy rating.

Walmart: “Boring” Business Keeps Getting More Interesting

As a consumer staple giant, Walmart NYSE: WMT isn’t often bundled with the growth stock crowd.

But over the past five years, the company—which is challenging Amazon NASDAQ: AMZN in the e-commerce space while maintaining its status as the largest grocery store in the United States—has seen average annual EPS growth of 8.98%. 

While that may not be market-beating, when accounting for the stock’s dividend, it paints a different picture. Shares of WMT currently yield 0.83%, or 94 cents annually per share. Coupled with its average EPS growth, the Dividend King has increased its payout for 53 consecutive years. 

The stock has a healthy dividend payout ratio of less than 33% while averaging 3.17% in annualized dividend growth over the past five years. 

Taken together, that average EPS growth and Walmart’s nearly guaranteed dividend increases have 32 of the 33 analysts covering the stock assigning it a Buy rating. Bearish sentiment for WMT remains incredibly low, too, with short interest currently standing at just 0.50% of the float.  

Over the past five years, the company’s net income (a.k.a. profit) has grown from $13.5 billion to $19.4 billion—a nearly 44% increase. 

Amazon: Growth Engine Looks More Balanced Than the Narrative

While the Magnificent Seven stocks may still be considered growth stocks, many of them are operating in legacy businesses. Apple NASDAQ: AAPL, for example, has evolved into a legacy iPhone maker.  

The same argument could be made for Amazon if it weren’t for the continual efforts of the company to diversify its lines of business.

In addition to its dominant role in e-commerce, the Jeff Bezos-founded firm’s Amazon Web Services (AWS) maintains its position as the world’s largest cloud storage provider.

Meanwhile, the company is emerging as a grocery disruptor with its sights set on taking market share from the four largest supermarket operators, Walmart, Costco NASDAQ: COST, Kroger NYSE: KR, and Albertsons NYSE: ACI. 

At the same time, Amazon’s CapEx efforts aimed at AI and robotic automation reached $100 billion in 2025. That spending spree in turn reduced the company’s earnings in the short term. 

But the operative term is short-term. Over the medium and long term, that spending is expected to produce sizable returns, with analysts’ 12-month price target for the stock standing at $296, or 27% potential upside from today’s share price.  

Much of that has to do with expectations of Amazon’s earnings reverting to the mean. Over the past five years, the company has an average annual EPS growth of more than 37%. Over the next five years, the stock is forecast for EPS growth of between 20% and 22%. 

As a result, 57 of the 61 analysts covering the stock assign it a Buy rating. The smart money seems to be in agreement, with institutional ownership standing at more than 72% and inflows over the past 12 months outnumbering outflows $227 billion to $88 billion.