25 Best Stocks to Own in the 4th Quarter

Almost one month into the final quarter of 2025, Wall Street has seen no shortage of volatility thanks to U.S.-China trade talks, rare-earth buzz, geopolitical tensions between Russia and Ukraine, AI, and more. However, if you're looking for a historically "safe" stock to place a bet, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) may be a good choice.

According to data from Schaeffer's Senior Quantitative Analyst Rocky White, AVGO averaged an impressive fourth-quarter gain of 19.4% over the past 10 years, finishing higher every time. From its current perch of $343.73, a move of this magnitude would put the chipmaker at $410.41 by year-end -- a new record high.

AVGO has been on the rise since touching an annual low of $138.10 in early April, recently receiving a boost from a deal with OpenAI. Though the shares have stalled a bit at the $360 level, the ascending 50-day moving average lingers below to help capture any pullbacks. Year-to-date, the equity is up 48%. 

Puts have been much more popular than usual over the last 10 weeks, per Broadcom stock's 50-day put/call volume ratio at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), which ranks higher than 82% of readings from the past year.

Options are looking affordable, too. This is per the stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Index (SVI) of 46%, which sits in the 7th percentile of annual readings. AVGO also tends to outperform options traders' volatility expectations, per its Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) of 81 (out of 100).