Beat the Market the Zacks Way: Oracle, Credo Tech, Palantir in Focus

Last Friday, the three most widely followed benchmark indexes closed a losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 2.9%, 2.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Dow Jones marked its steepest weekly decline since early April, while the S&P 500 snapped a 2-week winning streak.

U.S. markets declined last week due to a combination of economic concerns, geopolitical tensions and earnings disappointments. A weaker-than-expected July jobs report raised fears about slowing economic momentum. Meanwhile, President Trump’s announcement of new tariffs on EU and Canadian imports fueled worries of renewed trade tensions. Rising bond yields, with the 10-year Treasury climbing above 4.7%, pressured equity valuations and shifted investor preference toward safer assets. Disappointing earnings from major firms like Boeing and Meta added to the negative sentiments. Together, these factors led to profit-booking and a rotation out of high-growth sectors, dragging down the benchmark indices for the week.

Regardless of market conditions, we, here at Zacks, provide investors with unbiased guidance on how to beat the market. 

As usual, Zacks Research guided investors over the past three months with its time-tested methodologies. Given the prevailing market uncertainty, you may want to look at our feats to prepare better for your next action.

Here are some of our key achievements:

Credo Tech and Pegasystems Surge Following Zacks Rank Upgrade

Shares of Credo Technology Group Holding Ltd CRDO have gained 40.7% (versus the S&P 500’s 4.3% increase) since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on June 5.

Another stock, Pegasystems Inc. PEGA, which was also upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 on June 4, has returned 14.8% (versus the S&P 500’s 4.3% increase) since then.

A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy) stocks returned +3.39% in 2025 (through July 7th) vs. +5.19% for the S&P 500 index and +3.63% for the equal-weight version of the index.

This portfolio returned +22.4% in 2024, vs. +28% for the S&P 500 index and +19.9% for the equal-weight version of the S&P 500 index.

This hypothetical portfolio returned +20.65% in 2023 vs. +24.83% for the S&P 500 index and +15% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index.

The Zacks Model Portfolio - consisting of Zacks Rank #1 stocks – has outperformed the S&P index by more than 12 percentage points since 1988 (through June 2^nd, 2025, the Zacks # 1 Rank stocks generated an annualized average return of +23.5% vs. +11% for the S&P 500 index).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here >>>

Check Credo Tech’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>

Check Pegasystems’ historical EPS and Sales here>>>

Zacks Recommendation Upgrades Cochlear and Virtu Financial

Shares of Cochlear Limited CHEOY and Virtu Financial, Inc. VIRT have surged 13% and 5.5% (versus the S&P 500’s 3% rise), respectively, since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on June 13.

While the Zacks Rank is our short-term rating system that is most effective over the one- to three-month holding horizon, the Zacks Recommendation aims to predict performance over the next 6 to 12 months. However, just like the Zacks Rank, the foundation for the Zacks Recommendation is trends in earnings estimate revisions.

The Zacks Recommendation classifies stocks into three groups — Outperform, Neutral and Underperform. While these recommendations are determined quantitatively, our analysts have the flexibility to override them for the 1100+ stocks they closely follow based on their better judgment of factors such as valuation, industry conditions and management effectiveness than the quantitative model.

To access our research reports with Zacks Recommendations for the 1100+ stocks we cover, click here>>>

Zacks Focus List Stocks Ulta Beauty, Palantir Shoot Up

Shares of Ulta Beauty, Inc. ULTA, which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have gained 28.3% over the past 12 weeks. The stock was added to the Focus List on March 25, 2020. Another Focus-List holding, Palantir Technologies Inc. PLTR, which was added to the portfolio on March 26, 2024, has returned 24.1% over the past 12 weeks. The S&P 500 has advanced 9.7% over this period. 

The 50-stock Focus List portfolio returned 8.84% in 2025 (through June 30th, 2025) vs. +6.21% for the S&P 500 index and +4.82% for the equal-weight version of the index.

The Zacks Focus List portfolio returned +18.41% in 2024 vs. +25.04% for the S&P 500 index and +13% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index. The portfolio had returned +29.54% in 2023 vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index and +13.61% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index. In 2022, the portfolio returned -15.2% vs. the S&P 500 index’s -17.96%.

The portfolio leads the broader market over the preceding one, three, five and ‘since 2004’ periods. These annualized return comparisons are: +22.27% for the Focus List vs. +15.18% for the index over the one-year period, +22.61% vs. +19.71% over the 3-year period, +17.79% vs. +16.64% over the 5-year period, and +11.85% vs. +11.44% since 2004.

Since 2004, the Focus List portfolio has produced an annualized return of +11.60% (through the end of May 2025). This compares to a +10.22% annualized return for the S&P 500 index and +9.41% for the equal-weight version of the index in the same time period.

Unlock all of our powerful research, tools and analysis, including the Focus List, Zacks #1 Rank List, Equity Research Reports, Zacks Earnings ESP Filter, Premium Screener and more, as part of Zacks Premium. Gain full access now >>

Zacks ECAP Stocks Oracle & Thermo Fisher Scientific Make Significant Gains

Oracle Corporation ORCL, a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), has jumped 62.2% over the past 12 weeks. Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. TMO has followed Oracle with 9.3% returns.

The Zacks Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), which consists of 30 concentrated, ultra-defensive, long-term Buy-and-Hold stocks, returned +3.20% in the first quarter of 2025 vs. the S&P 500 index’s -4.30% decline (SPY ETF).

For the year 2024, the portfolio returned +16.26% vs. +24.89% for the S&P 500 index (SPY ETF).

In 2023, the portfolio returned +12.17% vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index. The portfolio returned -4.7% in 2022 vs. the S&P 500 index’s -17.96%.

With little to no turnover and annual rebalance periodicity, ECAP seeks to minimize capital loss by holding shares of companies whose earnings streams exhibit a proven 20+ year track record of surviving recessionary periods with minimal impact on aggregate earnings growth relative to the overall S&P 500.

The ECAP and many other model portfolios are available as part of Zacks Advisor Tools, a cloud-based solution to access Zacks award-winning stock, mutual fund and ETF research. Click here to schedule a demo.

Zacks ECDP Stocks Tractor Supply and Fastenal Outperform Peers

Tractor Supply Company TSCO, which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 13.4% over the past 12 weeks. Another ECDP stock, Fastenal Company FAST, has climbed 10.7% over the same time frame. Of course, the inclination of investors toward quality dividend stocks to secure an income stream amid heightened market volatility contributed to this performance.

Check Tractor Supply’s dividend history here>>>

Check Fastenal’s dividend history here>>>

With an extremely low beta and a history of minimum earnings variability over the last 20+ years, this 25-stock portfolio helps significantly mitigate risk.

The Zacks Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP) returned -3.17% in 2025 Q2 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +10.94% gain and the Dividend Aristocrats ETF’s (NOBL) -0.09% return. Year-to-date (through June 30th), the portfolio returned +2.38% vs. +2.18% gain for the Dividend Aristocrat ETF.

For the full-year 2024, the portfolio returned +6.95% vs. +24.89% for the S&P 500 index and +6.72% for NOBL.

The portfolio returned -0.9% in 2023 vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index and +8.11% for NOBL. The portfolio returned -2.3% in 2022 vs. -17.96% for the S&P 500 index and -8.34% for NOBL.

Click here to access this portfolio on Zacks Advisor Tools.  

Zacks Top 10 Stock Stride Delivers Solid Returns

Stride, Inc. LRN, from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2025, has jumped 24.4% year to date compared with the S&P 500 Index’s 6.1% increase.

The Top 10 portfolio returned +11.8% this year (through the end of June 2025) vs. +6.2% for the S&P 500 index and +4.8% for the equal-weight version of the index.

The Top 10 portfolio returned +62.98% in 2024, vs. +25.04% for the S&P 500 index and +13% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio had returned +25.15% in 2023 vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index.

Since 2012, the Top 10 portfolio has produced a cumulative return of +2,246.8% through the end of June 2025 vs. +502.3% for the S&P 500 index and +373.4% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average return of +26.3% in the period 2012 through June 30, 2025, vs. +14.3% for the S&P 500 index and +12.2% for the equal-weight version of the index.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research