Market noise is relentless. Financial headlines scream about the same handful of stocks while important opportunities—the kind that can meaningfully impact your portfolio—often fly completely under the radar.
That’s exactly why we publish this watchlist each week.
While most investors are distracted by mainstream narratives, we’re digging through earnings transcripts, analyzing technical setups, and monitoring institutional money flows to identify companies at potential inflection points. Our focus isn’t on what’s already priced in, but rather on what the market hasn’t fully appreciated yet.
Each week, we spotlight three stocks that merit your attention. We focus on opportunities where timing, valuation, and catalysts align to create potentially favorable entry points.
Our rigorous analysis goes beyond surface-level metrics to identify opportunities that most retail investors don’t have time to uncover. Each pick comes with clear reasoning, specific triggers to watch for, and a compelling risk-reward profile designed to help you make more informed investment decisions.
Here’s what we’re watching this week:
Exxon Mobil (XOM) — Energy Giant Approaching Multi-Year Breakout
Exxon Mobil presents a compelling opportunity as the oil major’s fundamentals appear to be bottoming just as the stock approaches a potential breakout above multi-year resistance around $125. Trading around $118 per share following its Q3 earnings release on October 31, the company delivered record upstream production of 4.8 million barrels per day including 1.8 million from the Permian and 700,000 in Guyana. Management highlighted strong shareholder returns with $9.4 billion in capital returned including $4.2 billion in dividends and $5.1 billion in share repurchases, while declaring a Q4 dividend of $1.03 per share representing a 4% increase.
The fundamental transformation centers on Exxon’s aggressive cost-cutting program that positions the company to generate substantially higher earnings during the next commodity price bull market. Since 2019, management has achieved $14 billion in cumulative structural cost savings with $2.2 billion realized year-to-date in 2025. While the company cannot control oil prices any more than anyone can control the weather, this operational efficiency focus means each dollar of oil price increase translates to greater earnings leverage than before.
The growth trajectory is accelerating with 10 key projects scheduled for completion in 2025 expected to drive more than $3 billion in earnings contributions at constant prices and margins. The new growth driver comes from liquefied natural gas through the Golden Pass LNG export terminal in Texas owned jointly with QatarEnergy. Set to begin operations at year-end 2025, this facility will have capacity exceeding 18 million metric tons annually when fully operational. CEO comments on the latest earnings call noted this project and others are expected to form a “foundation” for 2030 earnings and cash flow plans.
Exxon’s capital allocation strategy has fundamentally shifted from the historical reinvestment rate averaging 70% during 2010-2019 toward current levels of 45-55% with further decline expected to 35% by 2030. The company is more efficiently deploying capital while returning more cash to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. After three years of consolidation, a breakout above the $125 overhead resistance would trigger an extended rally with dividend yield and low expectations buffering downside risk. For investors seeking exposure to energy with improving operational efficiency and major project catalysts ahead, Exxon’s combination of bottoming fundamentals and technical breakout setup creates compelling risk-reward at current levels.
Eli Lilly (LLY) — Pharmaceutical Leader Racing Toward $1 Trillion Valuation
Eli Lilly represents an exceptional growth opportunity as the pharmaceutical giant rapidly approaches the exclusive $1 trillion market capitalization club driven by explosive growth in diabetes and weight-loss medications. Trading around $1,025 per share with a $969 billion market capitalization after gaining 30% year-to-date, the company needs only an 11% additional gain to join the trillion-dollar ranks alongside just 10 other U.S. companies including Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft. The path to this milestone appears virtually assured based on current growth trajectories and market dynamics.
The fundamental driver centers on Eli Lilly’s dominant positioning in the massive anti-obesity drug market through Mounjaro and Zepbound, both using tirzepatide for diabetes treatment and weight management respectively. Q3 results demonstrated the extraordinary growth potential with Mounjaro sales increasing $3.4 billion year-over-year to $6.5 billion while Zepbound sales surged $2.3 billion to $3.58 billion. Combined, these products accounted for $10.1 billion of the company’s $17.6 billion quarterly revenue, helping drive overall revenue growth of 54% and earnings per share expansion from $1.07 to $6.21.
The market opportunity is staggering, with federal statistics estimating 43.1% of U.S. adults are obese while Grand View Research projects the global anti-obesity drug market expanding from $6.6 billion in 2023 to $77.24 billion by 2030, representing a 31.66% compound annual growth rate. Eli Lilly’s additional pipeline provides diversification beyond weight-loss medications through products including Jaypirca for leukemia generating $143 million quarterly revenue with 61% prescription growth, Ebglyss for eczema producing $127 million with 41% quarterly prescription growth, and cancer drug Verzenio contributing $1.4 billion in sales.
The financial mathematics support the trillion-dollar trajectory with trailing twelve-month revenue of $59.42 billion projected to reach $75.3 billion next year representing 26% growth. At the current forward price-to-sales ratio of 14.1 and hitting the $75.3 billion revenue target, market capitalization would reach $1.06 trillion by end-2026. Management is aggressively building capacity through billions invested in Virginia and Texas manufacturing sites plus Puerto Rico facility expansion, while the Nvidia partnership promotes AI-accelerated drug discovery. For growth investors seeking exposure to the transformative obesity treatment market through the category leader, Eli Lilly’s combination of explosive near-term momentum and deep pipeline creates what appears to be an inevitable march toward trillion-dollar valuation within the next year.
General Dynamics (GD) — Defense Contractor With Pristine Technical Setup
General Dynamics emerges as the cleanest technical setup among aerospace and defense stocks positioned to benefit from the secular tailwind of rising global defense spending. The company operates against a backdrop of defense budgets rising across the United States and allied nations driven by persistent geopolitical tensions, with U.S. spending alone expected to reach nearly $900 billion in 2025—an all-time high. Defense spending represents one of the most durable secular themes given its non-discretionary nature as countries rebuild military capabilities in response to global conflicts.
The fundamental performance validates the sector opportunity through record backlogs and improving margins. General Dynamics reported operating margin improvement of 30 basis points sequentially from the previous quarter, operating earnings up 11% year-over-year, and backlog growth of 19% year-over-year. These results mirror strong performance across the defense sector where companies like RTX reported record backlog of $251 billion with 104% free cash flow growth, while L3Harris announced record backlog alongside raised 2025 guidance with 10% organic revenue growth and margin expansion.
The technical picture for General Dynamics stands out as particularly attractive among defense peers. While some names like Axon broke down below 200-day moving averages and others show messier consolidation patterns, General Dynamics maintains a pristine chart with buyers aggressively purchasing all dips. The stock acted exceptionally well this fall with the July gap around $310 providing strong support, while momentum suggests the stock likely sees $375 before revisiting $325. The uptrend remains intact with violation of the $310 level serving as the key invalidation point that would change the technical attractiveness.
The defense sector advantage stems from earnings derived primarily from government institutions rather than consumers, providing insulation from economic cycles that impact consumer-facing businesses. General Dynamics benefits from long-term contracts and multi-year programs that create revenue visibility while geopolitical tensions ensure continued government spending regardless of broader economic conditions. For investors seeking exposure to the defense spending supercycle through a company with pristine technicals and improving fundamentals, General Dynamics offers compelling risk-reward with clear support levels and momentum favoring continued upside toward $375.
