Trying to display stick or featured post on homepage

Try this. It should work

<?php
$args = array(
    'post__in' => get_option('sticky_posts'),
    'showposts' => 1,
    'orderby' => date, 
    'order' => 'desc'
);

$sticky = new WP_Query( $args );
if ( $sticky->have_posts() ):
    while ( $sticky->have_posts() ): $sticky->the_post();
        echo the_title();
    endwhile;
endif;

wp_reset_query();
?>