Top 5 large-cap stocks to watch in 2025

What are large-cap stocks?

Large-cap stocks are the shares of companies with a market capitalisation of over US$10 billion. They’re mighty businesses and tend to be stable, monolithic entities in their respective sectors.

Large-cap is just one classification of market capitalisations – there are also mega-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and micro-cap stocks.

Why trade large-cap stocks?

There are numerous benefits to trading large-cap stocks, such as their general stability. Because they’re so large, they’re often (but not always) more resilient to economic downturns. This makes them good at balancing a stock trading portfolio, as they tend to be less risky.

They also pay dividends regularly, although there are exceptions to this. For example, mega-cap company Amazon doesn’t pay dividends to its stockholders and has never done so. But for the most part, because large-cap companies are so well-established, they’re not usually in high-growth phases where profits need to be reinvested back into the business for expansion, and they can afford to pay dividends.

Finally, large-cap stocks tend to receive a lot of scrutiny from analysts and the media, so they’re more likely to have transparent financials and fundamentals. It’s also easier to find in-depth coverage of them, making research simpler than it would be for a smaller company.

Where to find large-cap stocks

Large-cap stocks tend to be concentrated in certain sectors and industries. For example, you’re more likely to find them in:

• Technology
• Healthcare
• Finance
• Energy
• Consumer goods

So, starting with stable, large-cap stocks in these sectors is a good way to dip into the stock trading market if you’re looking for lower risk options.

What to consider before trading large-cap stocks

While they’re known for their lower-risk nature, all trading is inherently risky. Just because a company has been well-established for 10, 20 – even 30 years, doesn't mean it will always be that way. Remember to create a comprehensive risk management plan to try to mitigate losses and economic headwinds.

In addition, large-cap stocks are often not for the impatient trader. Gains can be slow and steady, which means it’s a good idea to balance your portfolio with more than just these companies.

Top 5 large-cap stocks to watch in 2025

We’ve selected five large-cap stocks to watch in 2025 that we think are worth considering. They’re geographically diverse, as well as fall into different sectors, making them good options if you want to gain international exposure to various industries.

All of them have seen stock price gains over the past six months (as of 26 August 2025), from 10.95% to 27.45%.

Some of these stocks are also considered undervalued right now, which is another reason we chose them.

Overview of the large-cap stocks in this article

Every stock on our list can be traded through us, either via CFDs or by purchasing them directly via stock trading.

1. Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F)
 

Industry: Automotive

Market cap: US$47.12 billion¹

Ford, a household name, is a multinational automotive manufacturer that designs, manufactures, markets and services vehicles. The company operates through three main business segments: Ford Blue (traditional internal combustion vehicles), Ford Model e (EVs) and Ford Pro (commercial vehicles and services).

Beyond vehicle manufacturing, Ford provides automotive financing through Ford Motor Credit Company and is expanding into mobility services and autonomous vehicle technology. It operates manufacturing facilities across North America, South America, Europe and Asia, serving customers in over 100 markets worldwide.

Ford plans to invest around US$5 billion and create nearly 4,000 jobs across the Louisville Assembly Plant and BlueOval Battery Park, Michigan, to deliver a new pickup and produce advanced prismatic LFP batteries for its EV segment.²

Highlights:

• The stock price has increased by 27.45% over the past six months, as of 26 August 2025
• In its most recent quarterly earnings results, the automotive manufacturer indicated that a record-breaking US$50 billion in revenue had been made, with sales growing seven times quicker than the broader industry³
• EVs make up nearly 14% of its US sales⁴

2. Cenovus Energy Inc (TSE: CVE)
 

Industry: Energy

Market cap: CAD 41.61 billion⁵

Cenovus is an integrated oil company that develops and produces crude oil from Canada's oil sands, while also operating downstream refining facilities. The company's upstream operations include oil sands projects at Christina Lake, Foster Creek and Sunrise, along with conventional oil and natural gas production.

Its downstream business includes refining operations in the United States through facilities in Illinois, Ohio, Texas and Wyoming, with a combined refining capacity of approximately 660,000 barrels per day.

Cenovus uses steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) technology for oil sands extraction, which involves injecting steam underground to heat bitumen for extraction.

The company also has offshore operations, including the West White Rose project off Newfoundland's coast.

Highlights:

• As of 26 August 2025, the stock price has improved by 16.59% over the preceding six months
• It recently announced a major acquisition of MEG Energy, representing significant consolidation in the Canadian oil sands industry
• In the second quarter of FY25, it generated around CAD 2.4 billion from operating activities⁶
• In the same period, upstream production was 765,900 barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/d)⁷

3. Itaú Unibanco Holding SA (BVMF: ITUB4)
 

Industry: Financial services

Market cap: US$68.99 billion⁸

As Latin America's largest bank, Itaú Unibanco is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in São Paulo.

It provides a variety of financial services, such as commercial banking, investment banking, asset management, insurance and credit cards.

The bank operates internationally, with a presence in Chile, Colombia, Panama, Paraguay, the US and Uruguay in the Americas, as well as Luxembourg, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK in Europe, plus China and Hong Kong in Asia.

Itaú Unibanco serves over 60 million customers through thousands of branches and ATMs.

The company announced a new stock buyback programme, effective from 5 February 2025 through to 5 February 2026, to purchase up to 200 million preferred shares, representing around 4.16% of the free float.

Highlights:

• Its stock price has fared well, having increased by 24.13% in the six months preceding 26 August 2025
• The company’s trailing 12-month (TTM) earnings are US$7.99 billion⁹

4. CVS Health Corp (NYSE: CVS)
 

Industry: Healthcare

Market cap: US$90.75 billion¹⁰

CVS Health operates as an integrated healthcare services company through three main business segments.

Its Pharmacy Services segment, through CVS Caremark, provides pharmacy benefit management services to health plans, employers and government programmes, managing prescription drug costs and clinical programmes for over 100 million plan members.

The Retail segment operates approximately 9,000 retail pharmacy locations under the CVS Pharmacy brand, along with long-term care pharmacy services and retail clinic services through MinuteClinic and HealthHub locations.

The Health Care Benefits segment, through Aetna (a health insurance company it acquired in 2018), provides medical, pharmacy, dental and vision benefits to approximately 26 million members across commercial, Medicare and Medicaid markets.

Highlights:

• CVS’s stock price has seen a healthy growth of 10.95% over the past six months, as of 26 August 2025
• Second quarter FY25 revenues were up 8.4% compared to the previous year quarter¹¹
• Has generated US$6.5 billion in cash flow from operations in the year to date¹²

5. Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LON: LLOY)
 

Industry: Financial services

Market cap: £49.46 billion¹³

Lloyds Banking Group is one of the UK's largest financial services providers, serving approximately 30 million customers through multiple brands including Lloyds Bank, Halifax, Bank of Scotland and Scottish Widows. The group operates through several key divisions, such as the Retail Banking side, which provides current accounts, savings, mortgages, personal loans and credit cards to individuals across the UK.

Interestingly, during the 2009 financial crisis, the UK government took a significant stake in the Group, but has since sold its holdings and returned the bank to a 100% privately owned business.

In recent news, Lloyd’s has been implementing cost reduction programmes while investing in digital transformation initiatives.

Highlights:

• As of 26 August 2025, the company’s stock price has jumped 15.78% in the preceding six months
• Thus far in FY25, the bank has delivered a 14% increase in new gross mortgage lending year over year (YoY)¹⁴
• Its 2026 outlook includes a view of greater than £1.5 billion in additional revenues from strategic initiatives¹⁵

How to trade large-cap stocks with IG UAE

CFDs

1. Open a CFD trading account with IG UAE
2. Search for large-cap stocks on the IG platform
3. Decide whether to go long (buy) or short (sell)
4. Choose your position size
5. Set stop-loss and limit orders
6. Place your trade and monitor it

Stock trading

1. Open a stock trading account with IG UAE
2. Search for large-cap stocks
3. Choose the stock you want to buy – try our stock screener
4. Determine how many shares you want to purchase
5. Place your order
6. Monitor your investment and collect any dividends

FAQs about large-cap stocks

Footnotes
 

1. TradingView, August 2025
2. Ford From the Road, August 2025
3. Ford quarterly earnings report, July 2025
4. Ford quarterly earnings report, July 2025
5. TradingView, August 2025
6. Cenovus quarterly earnings, July 2025
7. Cenovus quarterly earnings, July 2025
8. TradingView, August 2025
9. Companies Market Cap, August 2025
10. TradingView, August 2025
11. CVS quarterly earnings report, July 2025
12. CVS quarterly earnings report, July 2025
13. TradingView, August 2025
14. Lloyd’s Banking half-year results, July 2025
15. Lloyd’s Banking half-year results, July 2025