In my experience, even when the stock market’s throwing a tantrum, there are always terrific stocks to buy. In fact, it’s pretty rare to see the market price companies accurately, often seriously overvaluing or undervaluing their potential.
It’s the latter that I’m interested in finding. And luckily, investors with £5,000 are seemingly spoilt for choice for bargain-buying opportunities in 2026.
Here are two stock picks from the pros.
1. Defensive consumer play
The analyst team at Berenberg Bank have largely focused on potential buying opportunities within the UK’s industrials and construction sectors. However, one exception is Britain’s favourite bakery chain, Greggs (LSE:GRG).
Greggs’ shares have been hit hard in recent years. Slowing organic growth and fears of self-cannibalisation has resulted in the FTSE stock being sold off. And yet, this weak sentiment may have been a bit overblown.
While growth did seemingly grind to a halt in early 2025, the company’s performance has steadily been improving since. And it’s being driven by a combination of improving macroeconomic conditions as well as executing its own self-help initiatives.
Internal cost savings are gaining momentum and helping offset the impact of higher wage inflation and input costs. While the company doesn’t foresee a drastic growth turnaround in 2026, the stage is set for a potentially strong rally in the coming years once market conditions improve.
This is why, just last month, the team at Berenberg not only reiterated its Buy recommendation but also issued a 2,090p share price target – 40% higher than where the stock trades today.
2. A near-monopoly data play
Another UK stock near the top of analyst Buy lists right now is RELX (LSE:REL), a global data analytics specialist.
Like Greggs, RELX has also been hit hard by recent selling, especially in early February, when AI disruption fears reached an apex that saw the entire tech sector get sold off. But so far, the contrarian investors who used this weakness as a buying opportunity have already started enjoying double-digit recovery returns.
By spending the last few years building out its own suite of AI tools, RELX has been actively preparing and defending its business against the risk of AI disruption. And the benefits of these efforts are starting to emerge with revenue growth accelerating on the back of demand for its new AI tools.
The jury’s still out on whether RELX can continue to deliver quality compounding gains. After all, it’s not the only data & analytics company investing heavily in this technology. And if rivals can produce superior tools, the recent panic selling might indeed be justified.
But with the stock still trading at a discount to its historical premium, a growing list of institutional analyst teams from JP Morgan, Deutsche Bank, and Barclays are adding the firm to their best stocks ‘To Buy’ list.
What’s the verdict?
Out of these two businesses, RELX looks like it’s the more interesting play right now. Greggs undoubtedly holds some solid recovery potential, but it seems to be more dependent on external market conditions.
By comparison, RELX looks far more in charge of its own destiny. And with a long track record of outpacing expectations, betting against this business feels like a mistake. So for investors with a £5,000 lump sum, RELX shares could be worth mulling.
