Today's April 15th — And Here Are Four" Tax Refund Stocks" to Buy

Thirty years ago — back during my days as a business reporter covering big public companies, the economy and Wall Street — I made a decision that helped shape the rest of my life.

This was back before every company offered a 401(k) …

Back before ETFs made “flavored investing” as easy as pie — meaning conventional mutual funds ruled the roost …

Back before commission-fee trading — when I regularly paid $49.50 to buy 50 shares of a stock, and had my broker tack on an additional charge called an “odd-lot fee” for buying less than a “round lot” (aka 100 shares).

And back before I became an author, analyst and stock-picker … when I was still a workaday reporter — a guy who broke big stories and won elite awards for my work … but at the same miserly salary levels that drove many folks out of the business.

I loved being a reporter. For me, it was more than a job — it was a mission. But I wanted a life, too. Marriage. A house. Kids. College. An antique car. The whole shebang.

For me, it wasn’t a problem. I already knew I could have both: I knew I could have that reporting career and that “affordable life.” Thanks to the Crash of ’87 — which got me interested in stocks – I’d already learned that “investing” and my “Wealth Builder” mindset was the Great Equalizer.

Which brings me back to that decision. There in Upstate New York, covering the attempted turnaround and eventual downfall of Eastman Kodak Co. KODK 0.00%↑, my reporting career really took off. I was winning awards … getting recognition … and getting raises.

So starting there in the middle 1990s, every time my bosses gave me a raise, I didn’t just bank it – I started a new mutual fund. I calculated the after-tax amount I’d end up with, and set up automatic monthly investments in each new fund.

My work eventually landed me a job in Maryland. And my girlfriend (and eventual fiancé and wife) Robin followed shortly after. When we started house-hunting just ahead of our wedding in early 2000, I had a surprise for my wife-to-be: A mutual-fund war chest of $25,000 for the down payment and furnishings that she didn’t even know I had.

Because I didn’t ratchet up my spending with any of those raises, I never missed the cash.

I call it “The Lesson of Found Money.”

And here today, I’m issuing a personal challenge: Put that “lesson” to work for yourself.

Today is April 15 – tax deadline day: If you’re getting a refund, consider it “found money” – and put some to work for yourself.

It’s a great opportunity ..

So today we’re delivering a list of four “Tax Refund Stocks” to help you capitalize …

2026: The Year of Record Refunds

According to early Internal Revenue Service data, about 72% of taxpayers are getting refunds this year. The average refund is $3,571 — a jump of 10.9% over 2025.

We’re talking about more than $200 billion in the aggregate.

Figure out what you’re getting — or have already received. And then decide how much you’re putting to work — 25% … 50% … or all of it.

Less is okay, too. Something is better than nothing. (Some of those early “raises” I got at the start of my “Found Money Fund” experiment were only $25 to $50 a week). Making the decision to “start” is one of the biggest decisions Wealth Builders make.

Once you’ve made that commitment, the next decision is: “What do I buy?”

Today I’ll give you a rundown on several “types” of stocks to buy. Even if you’re investing a relatively small amount -- $1,000, $1,500 or $2,000 – today’s no-fee accounts and fractional shares mean you could break your “Found Money” stake into two or more investments.

As you folks know, we play the long game – looking to buy, add to and own stocks for three, five, seven, or 10 years — or longer. Even so, let’s take a look at the stocks — and the one-year gains projected by Wall Street.

Idea No. 1: The Quality Growth Play (+28%)

Mastercard Inc. $MA ( ▼ 0.27% )  

Risk: Moderate

I’m old enough to remember when “credit cards” were metal — and were often referred to as “charge plates.” When you bought something, you’d hand your card to the sales clerk who’d run it through one of those manual imprinters that gave you a carbon copy (those clunky pieces of hardware were often called “zip-zaps” for the sound they made or “knuckle-busters” for the trauma they inflicted).

This ain’t your daddy’s credit card company. It’s now a digital-payments firm with a $459 billion market cap and trailing 12-month revenue of roughly $33 billion. The stock is trading at about $514 a share; analysts have a one-year target of $657 — an implied return of nearly 28%.

This is definitely an Accumulate stock — meaning you buy it to hold and add to over the course of three years, five years or more.

Here’s something interesting to consider: MasterCard is trading at about 31 times trailing earnings — which is about 15% to 20% below its historical norm of about 37 or 38 (on both its five-year and 10-year averages). And it’s way below the P/E ratios of 40 to 50 we see during stretches of high optimism (like during 2019 to 2022).

That tells me investors are expecting rougher waters — which fits with my Forecast 2026 outlook and several economic scenarios I handicapped for you. The risks continue to lurk as regular folks experience that tightening squeeze.

Against that backdrop, it never hurts to “buy quality” — to invest in established companies with strong brand identities, established holds in their markets and a long history of operation. MasterCard (and rivals like Visa Inc. $V ( ▼ 0.26% ) and American Express $AXP ( ▼ 1.0% ) ) all fill the bill in the payments arena. I personally just like MasterCard the best.

Idea No. 2: Precious Metals Royalty (+19%)

Franco-Nevada Corp. $FNV ( ▲ 0.37% )  

Risk: Moderate

Among our best ideas, we brought you folks silver when it was in the $20 range and gold just below $2,400. Both zoomed — silver to more than $120 and gold to nearly $5,600 in late January — and then tipped over.

That’s not a reversal or a crash … it’s an opportunity.

We expect silver to again traverse that $100 an ounce threshold. And I see gold rebounding past that earlier record and getting up past $6,000 an ounce.

There are lots of ways to ride along here — and I like them all. There’s physical precious metals — including bullion, numismatic coins, old “junk” silver and new investment-grade issues from places like the U.S. Mint (which, by the way, dramatically boosted its own prices not long ago). There are exploration firms and miners.

And there’s a long list of “streamer” and “royalty” companies — which really fit the bill here.

There’s actually a silver play that’s my favorite: Indeed, it comes as close to a “must-own” stock as you’ll find.

Below is our latest update on that stock.

For today, though, I’ll tell you about a royalty company called Franco-Nevada, which finances mines instead of operating them. This approach lets the company collect cash flows from mine production – without such worries as:

• Exploration costs, permitting worries or environmental fallout.

• Labor, fuel or equipment costs.

• Or cost overruns.

Those problems stay with the operator; it has financial claims on what the miner churns out.

It makes money in two ways:

• Royalties: 2% to 5% of a mine’s revenue — usually for the multi-decade life of that operation.

• And Metal Streams: In return for an upfront cash payment to the miner, Franco-Nevada gets the right to buy a percentage of the production — usually at a mere 20% to 30% of the metal’s spot price.

On the royalty front, if a mine produces $1 billion worth of gold, a 3% royalty agreement pays Franco $30 million a year – automatically. On the streaming side, if gold is $2,500 and Franco-Nevada’s stream price is $500 an ounce, the per-ounce margin is $2,000.

Besides my aforementioned favorite, I like Franco-Nevada and Royal Gold Inc. $RGLD ( ▼ 2.92% ) . We chose Franco for this “Tax Refund Stock List” because it’s more-diversified, so perhaps a bit less risky — thanks to a hefty portfolio of 400 total assets and 100 “producing” assets spread across gold, silver, copper, iron ore and even some oil and gas royalties.

Revenue hit $1.82 billion last year — a record number buoyed by the surge in metals prices. Operating cash flow approached $1.49 billion.

Once metals resume their surge — as we believe they will — those results could get even better.

Analysts have a one-year target price of $305 on Franco-Nevada, a projected gain of 19% from its recent price of $257.

Idea No. 3: International Intrigue (+29%)

Nu Holdings Inc. $NU ( ▲ 0.59% )  

Risk: High Now/Moderate Later

I once referred to this fast-growing Latin American banking firm as the “Ultimate Found Money Stock.” At about $15 a share, we’re talking about a stock you can buy a nice block of with some of that tax refund cash.

The São Paulo, Brazil-based Nu Holdings — often also referred to as Nubank — is a digital financial-services firm that operates mostly in Latin America, including Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

Nubank’s offerings include:

• Credit and Prepaid Cards: Digital and premium metal cards.

• Mobile Payment: For transfers, bill payments and daily purchases.

• Savings Products: Digitally accessible personal and business accounts.

• Investing Services: Stocks, fixed-income products, ETFs and cryptocurrencies.

• Lending Services: Personal loans, product financing and peer-to-peer money transfers.

• And Insurance: Insurance for life, mobile, auto, home and financial protection.

One bullish truth that bodes well for Nu is that the company caters to a part of the world that’s got a big group of folks who are “underbanked” and “unbanked” — meaning those folks don’t have easy access to banks or the services they offer.

The shares are down nearly 20% from their 52-week high of $18.98 — tripped up by geopolitical uncertainty and some credit-market worries. But it’s also a FinTech innovator. And gives your portfolio a bit of non-U.S. diversification. The near-term action could be volatile. That makes it a definite Accumulate candidate. Analysts have assigned a one-year target price of $19.94 — a 29% upside from here.

Idea No. 4: A Utility In The Making (+84%)

Hallador Energy $HNRG ( ▲ 4.8% )  

Risk: High

I introduced Hallador to SPC subscribers as a “utility in the making”— and put it on a “pullback watch list” telling you to grab the shares if they dropped to $6.

In August 2024, Hallador’s shares did just that – falling into bargain territory down around $5.74.

If you acted on our research, you scored: Hallador rebounded and surged all the way to a $24.70 peak — a stratospheric (non-AI stock) gain of about 330%.

The stock has since dropped back to $15.09. That’s okay. That’s still a gain of 163% — and kind of illustrates the Accumulate strategy. Analysts have assigned Hallador a one-year target of $27.75 — a projected surge of 83.9% from where the stock is now and a 383% gain from where we first told you to grab it.

One reason for this whipsawing is that Hallador is still misunderstood.

My reference to it as a “utility in the making?” I gave it that descriptor because it’s a company in transition – and folks are still figuring it out.

Hallador has been an energy-market player since 1951. It began as an oil and gas explorer, evolved into a coal firm and is undergoing another makeover — this time into renewables and actual power production.

Hallador is a “thermal-coal” player — meaning coal for power and heat. And it’s a “utility in the making” — meaning it uses its own “stuff.”

The company’s Hallador Power Co. unit runs the Merom Generating Station, a two-unit, coal-fired power plant that’s rated at 1,080 megawatts. The Sullivan County, Ind.-situated plant has been running since 1982 and will sell electricity to Hoosier Energy customers — and back into the Midwest power grid.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) says global electricity demand could surge by 33% to 75% by 2050, when as much as two-thirds of the world’s electricity production could come from nuclear and renewables.

In the near term, the coal market (and coal prices) will whipsaw investors — though folks are increasingly realizing that coal will be part of our lives for much longer than we thought as recently as a couple of years ago.

Both that “stickiness” of carbon fuels and the shift toward renewables will benefit Hallador.

“A strong America requires a reliable energy grid,” Hallador says. “Power generating is a natural next step for our evolving company [and for America’s shift to] renewable energy solutions. Hallador Power is the pragmatic approach to that transition … Hallador Energy believes that there is no one solution to our energy needs but takes a practical, reliable approach to ensure America’s economy is plugged in and working at full power.”

There you have it, folks. A list of four “Tax Refund Stocks” that can get you moving.

May it start you down the road toward a house purchase of your own … or college for your kids … or a retirement that fulfills your dreams.

Wealth Builders like you and see “Found Money Moments” like a tax refund as an opportunity.

Wealth Killers sit still … ignore those open Wealth Doorways … and fret about those missed moments years later.

Let me know how you liked this … or if there are other stocks a big group of you are interested to hear more about …

With the way most folks feel about taxes, it’s probably odd to close this out by saying “Happy Tax Day.” But when you transform an ordinarily miserable moment into a Found Money Opportunity … well, maybe you look back on this particular April 15 with fondness — as I do my future-changing days as a happy, ambitious, dream-of-the-future reporter in Upstate New York.