(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — I could be wrong, but I think real estate stocks are worthy of another look for investors without exposure to the sector. In my mind, the combination of immunity to AI (for the most part or, at least, for now) plus an incoming Federal Reserve chair who has a single mandate directly from the President will augur well for the group. They tend to be inexpensive, unloved and, as Sean will show you, acting better than you might think. We have a few on our list of the Best Stocks in the Market. We’ll get to those after our usual rundown of meta stats… Sector leaderboard As of Feb. 17 , there are 228 names on The Best Stocks in the Market list. Top sector ranking: Top industries: Top 5 best stocks by relative strength: Sector spotlight: Real estate Sean — We wrote about Welltower (WELL) and Ventas (VTR) in November of last year. These are two of the best real estate stocks the past few years focused on the health care industry. Since we wrote that up, VTR is up 14% and WELL is up 13%, both trouncing the S & P 500 and the real estate sector up 2% and 8%, respectively. Real estate has been in a full-blown ice age since rates skyrocketed in 2022. While there’s debate about where rates go for the rest of this year, real estate stocks are thawing nonetheless. 16% of the sector hit new 52wk highs on Friday of last week, the highest reading behind only utilities and energy, and tied with staples. Let’s take a look at a few of the best charts on our list coming out of a sector that is seemingly coming back to life. Realty Income Corp. (O): Sean — Realty Income owns over 15,500 properties across 92 industries in the U.S. and Europe, specializing in net-lease commercial real estate. They focus on a number of industries spanning retail, industrial, gaming, and data centers. The “Monthly Dividend Company” lives up to its nickname — they literally pay a dividend every month, and it’s currently a 5-handle on an annual basis. Q3 2025 showed the company firing on all cylinders: $1.4 billion in investments, full-year income guidance raised to $4.25–$4.27 per share, and fiscal year 2025 investment guidance bumped to $5.5 billion with portfolio occupancy sitting at 98.7%. Josh — This is way overbought at a 78 RSI. Sometimes you just have to let these things cool off for a better entry. But I do like it. Especially when I back out the chart to five years and I see a situation where a long-term downtrend is being broken in real-time. I’d let it calm down with either a shallow pullback in price or some consolidation in this new range through time. In either case, the trading stop is $60, the previous resistance level which has already been tested successfully as support. Investors can use $58 I guess, but I wouldn’t give it much longer of a leash. Iron Mountain, Inc. (IRM): Sean — Iron Mountain has evolved from records management (do you guys have old Iron Mountain boxes in the garage too?) into a global infrastructure play, combining physical storage with data center solutions. IRM pays a nice 3.3% annualized yield. Q4 2025 delivered record results across the board with 17% year-over-year growth in revenue, adjusted EBITDA, and AFFO (adjusted funds from operation, think of this like free cash flow for REITS). The data center business is the star, posting 39% revenue growth in Q4, while high-growth segments collectively drove over 30% revenue growth. Management’s 2026 outlook calls for 12% revenue growth and 13% adjusted EBITDA growth. Josh — Iron Mountain has this same parabolic move that Realty Income had. It needs to be worked off, either through a dip or through time, before I’d want to take a position. RSI is 77 and that’s just too hot. Traders will want to monitor how the stock behaves near the bottom of the breakout gap around $103–104. The line in the sand is $100. I think it’ll hold up but that’s where momentum drains out of the setup. Prologis, Inc. (PLD): Sean — Prologis dominates industrial real estate with 1.3 billion square feet of logistics facilities across 20 countries serving 6,500 customers. This company is an interesting one as it’s pushing beyond traditional warehousing and into data centers and renewable energy, all while paying a decent 3% dividend. Q4 2025 showed strong leasing momentum with 228 million square feet signed for the full year and portfolio occupancy nearing 96%. The 2026 guidance of $6.00–$6.20 FFO (funds from operations) per share comes with 5.75%–6.75% same-store net operating income growth, while the data center power pipeline has expanded to 5.7 gigawatts. Josh — I have always liked this company’s story. The technicals have been good for a while now too. Unlike O and IRM, this is not a vertical spike, it’s a gradual rise. I want to train you to look for situations like this, not like those. Yes, you can make money from both, but we’re playing the probabilities here. PLD is making a series of higher highs and higher lows and has just pushed to new highs near $140. Price is holding above the rising 50 day around $130 and the 50-day is accelerating. Momentum is firm but not stretched, with RSI in the mid 60s. The run is still orderly, not euphoric. The $135 to $136 area represents the most recent breakout zone and should be first support on any pullback. The rising 50 day near $130 is the more important trend line. As long as price remains above that level, the intermediate uptrend is intact. A decisive break below the 50-day would suggest the character of the move is changing. I would check in on it every Friday for the weekly closing gut check. Simon Property Group, Inc. (SPG): Sean — Simon Property Group owns North America’s premier shopping malls, premium outlets, and mixed-use properties. Q4 2025 produced record real estate FFO of $4.8 billion for the year, with $3.5 billion returned to shareholders through dividends and buybacks. Occupancy hit 96.4% with base rents up 4.7%, and their current dividend yield sits at a juicy 4.6%. DISCLOSURES: (None) All opinions expressed by the CNBC Pro contributors are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CNBC, or its parent company or affiliates, and may have been previously disseminated by them on television, radio, internet or another medium. THIS CONTENT IS PROVIDED FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE FINANCIAL, INVESTMENT, TAX OR LEGAL ADVICE OR A RECOMMENDATION TO BUY ANY SECURITY OR OTHER FINANCIAL ASSET. THE CONTENT IS GENERAL IN NATURE AND DOES NOT REFLECT ANY INDIVIDUAL’S UNIQUE PERSONAL CIRCUMSTANCES. 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