Fitness
Top Gym Stocks for 2026 and How to Invest | The Motley Fool
Staying healthy and looking good will never go out of style. Whether you’re trying to improve your cardiovascular health or want to get stronger, it pays to work out at home or hit the gym. While gym memberships and home exercise equipment cost money, you might be able to recoup that expense by investing in the most profitable gym stocks.
Best fitness stocks in 2026
Here are five of the best gym companies to watch this year:
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Most Planet Fitness gyms are located in the U.S. Management has a long-term goal of reaching 5,000 locations in the U.S. alone, and the company has plenty of opportunity to expand internationally.
Most Planet Fitness locations are franchises, but the company also directly operates more than 280 facilities. The franchise business model results in a very high operating margin with low capital intensity.
Planet Fitness is well positioned to capture market share after many of its competitors closed their doors permanently due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Strong results over the last two years have led to reacceleration in club openings and expanded operating margin.
2. Peloton
Peloton (PTON +5.35%) is known for its connected stationary bikes and other home workout equipment. Although users must purchase Peloton equipment, the company earns most of its revenue from the subscriptions required to fully utilize its bikes and treadmills.
Today’s Change
(5.35%) $0.23
Current Price
$4.63
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$1.8B
Day’s Range
$4.30 – $4.68
52wk Range
$4.09 – $10.25
Volume
1.1M
Avg Vol
11M
Gross Margin
50.50%
Peloton has 2.7 million subscribers who pay $50 per month for a connected fitness subscription. Another 500,000 people pay $16 or $29 per month for a digital-only subscription. Digital subscriptions are immensely profitable for Peloton, which has a gross margin of almost 50%.
The home gym company thrived during the pandemic since most people were confined to their homes. But as the pandemic subsided and gyms reopened, the company has struggled to hold on to subscribers, especially for its digital-only product.
The stock has sold off significantly since the height of the pandemic, as the tailwind turned into a massive headwind. Peloton grew its operating expenses as if the shift to home workouts were a permanent phenomenon. It paid for that in subsequent years. Management is now focused on improving profitability and increasing value for existing subscribers.
3. Lululemon Athletica
Lululemon Athletica (LULU +1.62%) is a leading apparel retailer, specializing in yoga pants and other athletic wear. Its premium brand and the comfort of its clothes led to strong sales growth over the last few years as athleisure has become a mainstream style choice.
Today’s Change
(1.62%) $2.76
Current Price $172.85
Market Cap
$20B
Day’s Range
$170.00 – $175.43 52wk Range
$159.25 – $414.14
Volume
2M
Avg Vol 3.9M
Gross Margin
58.35%
Key Data Points
Management once expected to double its 2021 sales by 2026, with a goal of $13 billion in revenue, which may be tough to reach since it expects sales of $11 billion this year. Sales growth has been slower in the United States, but its international growth is strong, and several key markets, such as China, remain under-penetrated by the Canadian company.
The company also moved into the connected fitness space with its 2020 acquisition of Mirror, which it rebranded to Lululemon Studio. The move didn’t work out. It discontinued the Mirror device and partnered with Peloton to service its subscription home workout programs.
4. Garmin
Garmin (NASDAQ:GRMN) started by manufacturing global positioning system (GPS) navigation devices. Today, the company generates the bulk of its revenue from personal fitness devices such as smartwatches, fitness trackers, cycling power meters, and heart rate monitors. Consumer demand for fitness trackers continues to grow as more people look for ways to enhance their health.
Today’s Change
(1.81%) $3.59
Current Price $202.28
Market Cap
$38B
Day’s Range
$198.70 – $202.43 52wk Range
$169.26 – $261.69
Volume
30K
Avg Vol 1M
Gross Margin
58.73%
Dividend Yield
1.74%
Key Data Points
Garmin has experienced strong sales growth for its fitness trackers and watches. With specialized devices for cycling, running, rowing, and more, it’s able to attract sports enthusiasts as well as amateur and professional athletes to its products.
Lower costs combined with its improved scale have helped it drive operating margins back toward relative highs over time. With its success in incorporating its advanced GPS and motion-tracking technology into its devices, it can continue to gain share over time.
5. Life Time Group Holdings
Life Time Group Holdings (LTH +3.69%) operates more than 180 luxury fitness centers in the U.S. and Canada. Over the last five years, Life Time has seen significant improvements in member engagement and revenue per member, driven by constant improvements and renovations. It recently capitalized on the growing interest in pickleball by dedicating space in its facilities to the sport.
Today’s Change
(3.69%) $1.06
Current Price
$29.82
Key Data Points
Market Cap
$6.3B
Day’s Range
$28.95 – $29.99
52wk Range
$24.14 – $34.99
Volume
2.1M
Avg Vol
2.1M
Gross Margin
35.38%
As a result, it’s been able to produce strong revenue growth through increased membership pricing and additional service sales such as personal training. As a luxury brand, Life Time has the opportunity to increase the value of its memberships more than low-cost gyms, such as Planet Fitness, that cater to budget-conscious consumers.
Its recent moves have resulted in very strong member retention while still attracting new members. Not only does that produce nice revenue growth, but it also provides strong operating margin expansion. The company saw net income increase 55% in 2024, and management’s preliminary earnings results showed a 61% increase in income for 2025.
How to invest in gym stocks
- Open your brokerage app: Log in to your brokerage account where you handle your investments.
- Search for the stock: Enter the ticker or company name into the search bar to bring up the stock’s trading page.
- Decide how many shares to buy: Consider your investment goals and how much of your portfolio you want to allocate to this stock.
- Select order type: Choose between a market order to buy at the current price or a limit order to specify the maximum price you’re willing to pay.
- Submit your order: Confirm the details and submit your buy order.
- Review your purchase: Check your portfolio to ensure your order was filled as expected and adjust your investment strategy accordingly.
Key factors to consider when investing in gym stocks
The gym and fitness industry consists of two types of companies: those that provide expensive, high-end products and services, and those that offer low-end products and services. Companies trying to offer something in the middle of the road struggle to find a customer base. Both strategies can work, but you need to know which strategy the company you’re investing in is taking.
Key factors for gym stocks in particular include how many locations they have, how quickly they’re opening new locations, member growth, and member retention rates. You’ll want to see healthy numbers across the board, and be sure to follow management’s commentary on how they plan to maintain or improve them.
Benefits and risks of investing in gym stocks
Benefits:
- Gym and fitness stocks capitalize on growing health consciousness among consumers. People are highly willing to pay for positive health outcomes.
- Most gyms and many fitness products receive recurring revenue, making their top-line growth highly predictable.
Risks:
- Churn rates: Some gyms and health products can experience very high churn rates, requiring them to continually fill the bucket. A sudden drop in gross additions can cause a shortfall in key metrics, leading to a drop in the stock price.
- Capital intensity: If a gym owner builds its own gyms (as opposed to franchising), it has to invest a lot of capital up front to open a new location, with some uncertainty about how well it can attract new members.
Are gym stocks right for your portfolio?
Gyms, connected fitness, and digital subscriptions all generate recurring revenue, which can lead to more predictable revenue growth. Subscriptions can also provide a strong revenue base for companies to sell equipment or apparel. Focusing on investing in companies with business models that generate plenty of cash is likely the most profitable approach.
The performance of gym stocks can vary seasonally since many people focus more on their health around the new year. But despite that potential price volatility, adding a top gym stock to your portfolio may be just the right fit for you. At the very least, buying stock in a fitness company may make you feel better about paying for an unused gym membership or a Peloton that you hang clothes on.
Related investing topics
Gym stocks FAQ
The universal quest for immortality continues, and new research has hinted at a small lifestyle change that could reduce overall death rates in countries if we start taking our movement more seriously.
Conducted by a global research team, the study named ‘Deaths potentially averted by small changes in physical activity and sedentary time: an individual participant data meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies’ was published in The Lancet and suggested that adding five more minutes of physical exercise a day to your life could reduce death rates by 6 per cent.
Conducted on cohorts wearing on-person devices from Norway, Sweden and the USA, scientists analysed activity and sedentary levels to deduce what was causing higher death rates and found that a little change could go a long way.
With the help of the study’s author and additional experts from the field, we delved into the details and uncovered exactly what we need to do to make sure we are maximising our health before it’s too late.
A little change makes all the difference
We already know that we should all be getting out and exercising to ensure everything in our bodies is running smoothly, but just how important is that daily movement and could it be contributing to national mortality rates?
Professor Ulf Ekelund works in the Physical Activity and Health department at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and was one of the authors of the study. He broke down the data for HELLO!.
The professor explained: “We estimated the number of deaths potentially prevented by five and ten-minute increases in moderate intensity physical activity if all individuals in the population adhered to this increase.
“We analysed the data using two different approaches:
- ‘High-risk approach’ comprising the least active 20 per cent of the population
- ‘Population approach’ comprising 80 per cent of the population (excluding the most active 20 per cent).
He continued: “We found that six per cent and ten per cent of all deaths might be prevented in the two different scenarios, respectively, if all individuals made these changes.
“If an individual is completely inactive, every little move counts. For example, the least active 20 per cent in our study sample were only active for an average of about two minutes per day of moderate intensity. If all these individuals increased their activity by five minutes per day, it might reduce the number of deaths by six per cent annually.”
Dr Darren Player, a professor in Musculoskeletal Bioengineering at University College London, who was not involved in the study, shared his interpretation of the data with us and added: “The key finding was that an increase in Moderate-to-Vigorous Physical Activity (MVPA) by only five minutes per day for the least active individuals prevented 6 per cent of all deaths. This effect could extend to as much as 10 per cent in all individuals, except for those who are already very active.”
Exercise versus moderate intensity
In terms of how to achieve the correct level of activity and movement, we have to understand the difference between physical activity and moderately intense movement. They are different and will yield different results.
Professor Ulf explained: “There is a clear distinction between moderate intensity activity and exercise. Brisk walking is an excellent type of moderate intensity, whereas exercise is defined as something people do with the purpose to enhance fitness and/or health. It is structured and repetitive. Exercise is only a small proportion of all the physical activity people do.
“Physical activity [PA] is any bodily movement that increases energy expenditure above resting levels. It can be conducted with different intensities from very low to very strenuous. Exercise is a subset of PA which is planned, structured and done with a specific purpose.”
© Getty ImagesCould any of this add years onto our lives?
While this study was specifically about reducing death rates through exercise and movement, it made us wonder how it would affect the number of years we could all expect to live. Would incorporating an extra five minutes of movement add any time to the general life expectancy?
Dr Darren referred to data from the UK Biobank to share his estimations. He said: “This is quite a difficult question to answer, but there is some evidence. The following paper suggests that there could be an increase in life expectancy of 0.9 years for inactive women and up to 1.4 years for inactive men.
“The increases are dependent on the nature of physical activity, with higher intensity and greater volume (total amount of exercise) being the key factors. This is a large UK Biobank study, which does have some strengths for the analyses.”
He continued: “However, the factors that contribute to life expectancy and mortality are complex and varied, with further studies required to understand the picture fully. Particularly, the effect of resistance training combined with other forms of physical activity is likely to have a greater effect than one type of activity alone. Further research is required in this area to provide suitable evidence.”
What type of exercises can I do during my five extra minutes a day?
According to the NHS, there are a variety of movements that you can incorporate into your routine to make sure you are hitting the target of five extra minutes of exercise per day to increase your longevity.
These range from simple activities like making a cup of tea to pushing a lawnmower and dancing around your living room for fitness, depending on the intensity you are able for. While the study suggested five minutes of moderate intensity exercise, the health service broke down its recommendations into sections based on vigour:
Light activity:
- Getting up to make a cup of tea
- Moving around your home
- Walking at a slow pace
- Cleaning and dusting
- Vacuuming
Moderate activity:
- Walking for health
- Water aerobics
- Riding a bike
- Dance for fitness
- Pushing a lawnmower
- Hiking
Intense activity:
- Running
- Swimming
- Football
- Hiking uphill
- Martial arts
It also suggested some easy-to-do strength exercises that involve using a kitchen chair or filled bottles of water as props:
- Sit-to-stand
- Mini squats
- Calf raises
- Standing sideways leg lift
- Standing leg extension
- Wall press-up
- Bicep curls
About The Study: In this comparative effectiveness study, reducing music volume in group fitness classes did not lead to meaningful reductions in perceived exertion and may reduce the risk of noise-induced hearing loss. These findings support implementing safer sound practices in fitness environments and underscore the need for increased awareness and education on hearing protection.
Fitness
Reward yourself by exercising regularly at One to One Fitness | CWRU Newsroom | Case Western Reserve University
Now is the time to recommit to your health in time to feel your best for all your summer activities! One to One Fitness Center offers several ways to save in March.
Members of the Case Western Reserve University community can take advantage of sign-up specials designed to reward themselves for creating healthy habits.
Individuals can get 50% off the initiation fee (regularly $50 plus tax) and earn back what they do pay by exercising eight or more days in both April and May. Learn more online about this deal on initiation fees.
Students also can get additional savings:
- Graduate students who are enrolled for the spring semester receive summer membership free.
- With Spartan Shape Up memberships, affiliate students pay just $40 per month for membership from now through May, and no initiation fee or security deposit is required.
- Students also can pay $44 plus tax per month with a month-to-month, ongoing plan. No initiation fee or security deposit required.
One to One Fitness Center, owned and operated by CWRU, is known for offering personal, professional, friendly and clean services. Memberships include full access to the 28,000-square-foot fitness center, group exercise classes, validated parking in Lot 53, towel and locker service, and member discounts on programs and services.
Members also can add their spouse or partner to their account for $30 plus tax per month. The center also offers personal training, Pilates Reformer, massage therapy and sound bath therapy, swim lessons, and more.
Visit the One to One Fitness Center website, email onetoone@case.edu or call 216.368.1121 for more information.
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