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New: Introducing “Why Is It Moving?” - lightning-fast, AI-driven explanations of stock moves
Last week, the U.S. stock market delivered a strong performance, with all major indices, including the S&P 500, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, advancing by 0.82%, 0.84%, and 0.96%, respectively. Amid a partial government shutdown, which began midweek after Congress failed to pass a funding bill, investor optimism was primarily driven by innovations in Artificial Intelligence and increasing hopes for further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. However, the government shutdown has created uncertainties as delays in the release of key economic data have complicated near-term assessments.
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index data for September fell sharply by 3.6 points to 94.2, reaching its lowest point since April due to inflation and a weakening job market. The labor market showed some signs of weakening as job openings increased marginally by 19,000 to 7.227 million in August, while hiring decreased by 114,000 to 5.126 million as per the Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report. Investors are expecting the Fed to cut interest rates to prioritize the labor market, as the Personal Consumption Expenditures Index (Fed's preferred inflation measure) continued to accelerate moderately in line with expectations.
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 forecasts to better prepare for your next action. 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:
Shares of Amneal Pharmaceuticals, Inc. AMRX have gained 29.9% (versus the S&P 500’s 5.5% increase) since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on July 25.
Another stock, Leidos Holdings, Inc. LDOS, which was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 on July 28, has returned 19.8% (versus the S&P 500’s 5.1% increase) since then.
A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy) stocks returned +8.64% in 2025 (through September 1) vs. +7.60% for the S&P 500 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 September 1, 2025, the Zacks # 1 Rank stocks generated an annualized average return of +23.8% vs. +11.3% for the S&P 500 index).
Shares of Hippo Holdings Inc. HIPO and Vishay Precision Group, Inc. VPG have advanced 31.7% and +21.5% (versus the S&P 500’s 6.5% increase), respectively, since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on August 6.
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>>>
Shares of Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. NTLA, which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have gained 85.9% over the past 12 weeks. The stock was added to the Focus List on March 7, 2023. Another Focus-List holding, Shopify Inc. SHOP, which was added to the portfolio on September 6, 2022, has returned 38.3% over the past 12 weeks. The S&P 500 has advanced by 7% over this period.
The 50-stock Focus List portfolio has returned 13.74% in 2025 (through August 31, 2025) vs. +10.79% for the S&P 500 index and +8.69% 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: +16.20% for the Focus List vs. +15.89% for the index over the one-year period, +21.20% vs. +19.54% over the 3-year period, +16.1% vs. +14.74% over the 5-year period, and +11.9% vs. +10.57% since 2004.
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AutoZone, Inc. AZO, a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), has jumped 11.8% over the past 12 weeks. Hershey Company HSY has followed AutoZone with 10.6% returns.
The Zacks Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), which consists of 30 concentrated, ultra-defensive, long-term Buy-and-Hold stocks, returned +0.20% in the second quarter of 2025 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +10.94% gain (SPY ETF). In the year-to-date period through June 30, the portfolio has returned +3.93% vs. +6.20% gain for the S&P 500 index.
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.
Johnson & Johnson JNJ, which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 20.9% over the past 12 weeks. Another ECDP stock, The Home Depot, Inc. HD, has increased 6.3% 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 Johnson & Johnson's dividend history here>>>
Check Home Depot’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 to 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 30), the portfolio returned +2.38% vs. +2.18% gain for the Dividend Aristocrat ETF.
For the full year of 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.
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. GS, from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2025, has jumped 38% year to date compared with the S&P 500 index’s 14.2% increase.
The Top 10 portfolio has returned +17.72% this year (through the end of August 2025) vs. +10.79% for the S&P 500 index and +8.69% 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 +2,369.7% through the end of August 2025 vs. +522.5% for the S&P 500 index and +390.9% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average return of +26.1% in the period 2012 through August 31, 2025, vs. +12.86% for the S&P 500 index and +10.49% for the equal-weight version of the index.
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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