The Avis 'circus' messed with the transports sector this year. Josh Brown finds the real Best Stocks in the space

(This is The Best Stocks in the Market , brought to you by Josh Brown and Sean Russo of Ritholtz Wealth Management.) Josh — Transport stocks have had a wild year so far. Between the "liberation day" tariff threats and an anomalous event this spring that turned the Dow Transportation Average into a funhouse mirror, it's been a "never a dull moment" situation. That said, the sector is up 43% over the past 12 months versus 29% for the S & P 500 . But the anomaly I referenced gives us a serious asterisk on the chart… The index spiked to nearly 24,000 in late April before collapsing just as fast, and it had nothing to do with freight demand or rail volumes. Avis Budget Group , a DJT component, ran from around $100 to nearly $850 in a matter of weeks after two hedge funds cornered the float and triggered one of the more extraordinary short squeezes in recent memory. The stock then crashed over 70% in two days when the company signaled a dilutive equity offering, and the index came right back down with it. Strip out the Avis circus, and the underlying sector was legitimately strong during that same window, with J.B. Hunt , Old Dominion , Ryder and Landstar all posting double-digit gains on actual fundamentals. The sector sold off hard on "liberation day" in early April 2025, recovered quickly, and several names are now either breaking out or setting up to do so. The stocks we are highlighting this week reflect that theme. …