StockStory favors Brown & Brown (BRO), flags IDEX (IEX) and PayPal (PYPL) as laggards

StockStory on May 13, 2026, identified Brown & Brown (NYSE:BRO) as its preferred S&P 500 pick among three large-cap names, while saying IDEX (NYSE:IEX) and PayPal (NASDAQ:PYPL) offer weaker investment cases. Brown & Brown, an insurance brokerage and risk management firm, had a market value of $19.13 billion and traded at $56.51, or 12.8 times forward earnings. StockStory cited the company as the stock worth investor attention among the group. IDEX, a maker of engineered pumps, flow meters and fluidics systems, had a $16.06 billion market capitalization and traded at $216.81, equal to 24.9 times forward earnings. PayPal, the digital payments company spun off from eBay in 2015, had a $40.02 billion market value and traded at $45.33, or 8.5 times forward earnings. StockStory said both stocks underwhelmed relative to other opportunities.