by Fred Fuld III
Last month, I came up with a list of half a dozen stocks that might benefit from the January Effect.
The January Effect is the historical tendency for stock prices, especially small-cap stocks, to rise in the first month of the new year due to depressed prices from heavy selling in the previous month of December.
The selling is due to investors wanting to take tax losses before the end of the year.
The stocks I came up with had the following criteria:
• Stocks down over 75% for the year
• Selling below book value
• Selling below cash per share
• Market caps above $65 million
• US based
The list below show shows the company name, the stock symbol, and the industry:
| Atyr Pharma | ATYR | Biotech |
| Korro Bio | KRRO | Biotech |
| New Fortress Energy | NFE | Oil & Gas |
| Pliant Therapeutics | PLRX | Biotech |
| Vivid Seats | SEAT | Internet |
| Teads Holding | TEAD | Internet |
Finally, the results below shows what would happen if you had sold the stocks on January 5, the first trading day after New Year’s week, or January 9, if you had waited until the end of that first full week of the year to sell:
| 12/16/25 | 01/05/26 | % incr. | 01/09/26 | % incr. | |
| Atyr Pharma | 0.73 | 0.75 | 2.74% | 0.73 | 0.00% |
| Korro Bio | 7.78 | 7.91 | 1.67% | 9.42 | 21.08% |
| New Fortress Energy | 1.08 | 1.14 | 5.56% | 1.18 | 9.26% |
| Pliant Therapeutics | 1.23 | 1.25 | 1.63% | 1.35 | 9.76% |
| Vivid Seats | 6.49 | 7.33 | 12.94% | 6.96 | 7.24% |
| Teads Holding | 0.66 | 0.68 | 3.03% | 0.63 | -4.55% |
| AVERAGE % INCR. | 4.59% | 7.13% |
Not too bad a return for a three to four week holding.
Disclosure: Author didn’t own and doesn’t own any of the above. No investment recommendations are expressed or implied.