The end of December is traditionally the time to take stock of what was positive and negative in the last 12 months, and for B3’s business it is no different.
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The civil construction sectors (with an average return of 95.72%), fabrics, clothing and footwear (82.32%) and financial intermediaries (66.60%) led the list of best performers in 2025, according to a survey prepared by Elos Ayta at the request of the CNN Money.
At the bottom were the sectors of personal use and cleaning products (-41.61%), wood and paper (-10.61%) and oil, gas and biofuels (-5.23%).
For Bruna Sene, variable income analyst at Rico, the year 2025 was marked by the recovery of sectors that were discounted, of securities that had seen a strong decline in recent years and that companies were delivering good results.
According to the analyst, the good performance of the educational and real estate sectors fits into this scenario.
“With the end of the cycle of rising interest rates here in Brazil, investors have already started to look at some securities that benefit from the downward movement of the Selic, which has not yet started, but investors have the profile of anticipating the movement. Some tax incentives also ended up benefiting the sectors”, he adds.
Pedro Moreira, investment analyst at ONE Investimentos, recalls that the real estate sector is greatly impacted by high interest rates.
“With ‘Minha Casa, Minha Vida’, we saw an extremely positive performance in the sector in all companies. And we tend to continue this good performance, especially because monetary policy is undergoing changes, and improving the outlook for companies in the construction sector as a whole.”
The infrastructure sector, especially highway construction, Moreira states that it is also a case very aligned with the interest rate. According to him, the closing of the interest curve boosts the sector because these are companies that normally operate leveraged — that is, they use third-party capital (debts, loans or financing) to finance their operations and investments.
Among the sectors that remained at the bottom, air transport had the worst performance during the year.
Sene says that the sector, historically, requires caution from investors as it is influenced by many factors, such as fuel prices, exchange rate variations, seasonality in demands.
Furthermore, airlines were heavily impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic and were unable to recover, which made investors more cautious with the sector’s shares.
“We have seen this segment suffering since the pandemic, carrying a history of high leverage, high debt, precisely because everything was at a standstill, it was a very difficult time for these companies, which already have a delicate history, due to several factors that affect their operations. Companies were renegotiating debts, filing for judicial recovery, it is a delicate moment.”
The paper and cellulose and road material sectors were impacted by the weakening of the dollar and the exporting nature of the companies, according to analysts.
Sene highlights that cellulose paper companies that are on the stock exchange, in general, are exporters and have a large part of their revenue in dollars. In a scenario with a depreciated dollar, the sector also suffers. This is the main reason why companies did not perform well throughout the year.
As for the road material segment, Moreira analyzes that, in addition to these companies also being affected by the fall in the dollar, the capital goods sector as a whole is going through a challenging time, due to the macroeconomic scenario.
“With the implication of Trump’s tariffs, some of these companies had part of their revenue in the United States, so the market readjusted a little in terms of risk perception in relation to some companies”, explains the investment analyst.
