The Investing for Beginners Podcast - Your Path to Financial Freedom
The Investing for Beginners Podcast - Your Path to Financial Freedom

Santa’s Stock Wishlist: Companies We’d Love to Buy (If the Price Was Right)

25 December 2025 52:00 By Andrew Sather and Dave Ahern | Stock Market Guide to Buying Stocks like

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About this episode

Want to go deeper on real companies with simple, long-term investing guidance? Subscribe to the Value Spotlight Newsletter, where Dave and Andrew share stock ideas, valuations, and lessons from real businesses straight to your inbox.


In this Christmas Day episode, Dave and Andrew play a fun “Santa wishlist” game: what stocks (and even a couple private companies) would they love to see under the tree—if the price was right. These are high-quality businesses they admire, but most are too expensive at today’s valuations, so they’re watching and waiting.


They run through a mix of consumer brands, software, finance/data businesses, industrial compounders, and a few “wish it were public” names. Along the way, they talk through what makes each company attractive (growth, margins, moats, culture, capital allocation) and what would need to change for them to buy.


Key Topics Covered:

“Santa wishlist” investing: great companies, wrong price (for now)

Growth vs. valuation: waiting for quality to become “buyable”

Moats and execution: why some businesses keep winning

Capital-light compounders: margins, cash flow, and pricing power

Private-company dream picks + what an IPO could mean


Timestamps:

00:00 – Stocks Santa should bring us”

03:08 – MercadoLibre (LATAM leader, 30%+ growth, pricey)

06:29 – Wingstop (franchise scale story, valuation still rich)

09:31 – Intuit (QuickBooks, elite margins, always expensive)

11:28 – Cadence (semiconductor design software “industry standard”)

16:05 – Fastenal (steady industrial compounder, valuation stays high)

18:45 – FICO (credit score moat + regulatory/competition risk)

30:04 – Old Dominion Freight Line (LTL leader, cyclical but elite)

39:11 –Reddit (attention + monetization potential, “lottery ticket”)

46:07 – Wrap-up


Have questions or want your story featured? Email the show at [email protected] or comment below. Your feedback shapes the podcast!


Remember, invest with a margin of safety—emphasis on the safety. Have a great week, and we’ll talk to you next time.


Timestamps are generated by artificial intelligence, and are not 100% accurate depending on the platform used for listening.


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