The stock market, buoyed by the U.S. government’s removal of Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro, is off to a good start in 2026, with the S&P 500 up 1.3% in the first week of trading.
Yet some cracks are forming beneath the surface in early 2026 with a handful of widely owned, once-high-growth stocks facing competitive headwinds, valuation pressure, and business growth risks that are likely to shadow any near-term upside.
As usual, the most expensive sectors are the most at-risk.
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Dan Buckley, chief analyst at DyTrading.com, points to years like 2022 that hammered home the risk to the valuations of long-duration equities when rates rise by more than is priced in. “Lots of institutional money pulls back when they have safer investment opportunities that provide a more acceptable baseline yield,” he added.
“Technology, most notably and probably most unsurprisingly, is in the crosshairs,” said Buckley. “That’s especially so with high-earnings-multiple tech stocks and for companies that struggle to earn with problematic business models. The distribution of outcomes is often much wider with those stocks because of their growth narratives and because they come with more volatility.”
One week into 2026, let’s review three stocks investors may want to sell right now as fundamentals threaten to meet low expectations.
One Month Performance: -4.65%
Uber (NYSE:UBER) has got a trunkload of problems, most notably the rise of autonomous vehicles, which could eventually create a massive fissure in the ride-sharing industry.
While Uber exited the self-driving race years ago, its competitors decided to push on, and all of a sudden, are in the driver’s seat in an industry valued at $273.75 billion in 2025, expanding to nearly $4,450.34 billion by 2034 at a double-digit CAGR of 36.30% from 2025 to 2034.
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Tesla, Alphabet’s Waymo, and Amazon-backed Zoox all continue to invest heavily in robo-taxis that could fundamentally change ride-sharing economics. If autonomous fleets become commercially viable, Uber risks being reduced to a middleman, without drivers, vehicles, or valuable proprietary AV technology. With vehicles threatening its long-term pricing power and profit margins increasingly vulnerable to rising competition and ongoing ride-sharing regulation, Uber’s shares are at risk.
UBER stock already fell 3% earlier this week after Melius Research downgraded it to Sell from Hold, slashing its price target to $73 from $100, mainly due to tougher autonomous vehicle competition. Expect that ride to continue in 2026, as Uber loses ground on its competition.
One Month Price Performance +10.59%
Market mavens say investors should immediately shed Rivian (NASDAQ:RIVN), along with similar unprofitable EV manufacturers.
“While the technology is impressive, the math doesn’t work,” said David Jaffee, a former investment banker and founder of BestStockStrategy.com, an options and investment risk management service platform. “Rivian is a ‘capital incinerator.’”
The main downside for RIVN is that they lose money on every vehicle they sell. “To survive, they must constantly raise capital, which dilutes shareholders,” Jaffee said. “And in 2026, time is the enemy. Legacy automakers and the market leader (Tesla) have the scale to wage a price war that Rivian cannot afford.”
Consequently, if you’re holding Rivian, you’re holding a lottery ticket with decaying odds. “Sell it and redeploy that capital into a company with robust free cash flow, or use the capital to sell put options on profitable blue chips to generate immediate income,” Jaffee advised.
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One Month Price Performance +10.59%
Jaffee is also bearish on fintech Lenders and “Buy Now, Pay Later” (BNPL) firms.
“The consumer balance sheet in 2026 is showing cracks,” he noted. “We’re seeing delinquency rates tick up in credit cards and auto loans. Sectors that rely on subprime or near-prime consumer credit (like Affirm (NASDAQ: AFRM) or Upstart) are facing a dual threat: borrowing costs remain real, and default rates are rising. When the economy normalizes, these are the first stocks to suffer because they lack the “moat” of the major banks.”
Sector-wise, prominent technology positions could also be curbed, but not too much, Buckley noted.
“If I had imbalanced exposure to the AI trade, I’d cut back in big names, notably Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD),” he said. “I don’t believe the producers of those technologies will be the biggest winners long-term, given the economics, exponential capex commitments, and starting valuations.”
Meanwhile, the broader market may still be leaning toward growth, but select stocks like Uber, Rivian, and Affirm are flashing warning signs as we head toward 2026.
For investors focused on capital preservation and risk management, these three stocks may be better candidates for trimming or selling before downside risks become reality.
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This article 3 Stocks to Sell in 2026 originally appeared on Benzinga.com
