Zacks.com featured highlights include Ciena, EverQuote, PJT Partners and Commercial Metals

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – December 29, 2025 – Stocks in this week’s article are Ciena Corp. CIEN, EverQuote, Inc. EVER, PJT Partners Inc. PJT and Commercial Metals Co. CMC.

4 Top-Ranked Liquid Stocks to Enhance Portfolio Returns in 2026

Liquidity measures a company’s capability to meet short-term debt obligations. Stocks with high liquidity levels have always been in demand, owing to their potential to provide maximum returns. Investors seeking solid gains will likely benefit from adding stocks with sound liquidity, which encourages business growth.

Investors may want to consider adding four top-ranked stocks — Ciena Corp., EverQuote, Inc., PJT Partners Inc. and Commercial Metals Co. — to their portfolios to boost returns.

However, it is important to exercise caution. While high liquidity can indicate that a company is efficiently managing its short-term obligations, it may also suggest underutilization of resources. In some cases, companies with excess liquidity may not be deploying their assets effectively, which could limit growth potential.

Hence, one may consider a company’s efficiency level in addition to its liquidity while identifying prospective winners. A balanced assessment of both liquidity and efficiency can help identify truly promising investment opportunities.

Measures to Identify Liquid Stocks

Current Ratio: It measures current assets relative to current liabilities. The ratio gauges a company’s potential to meet short- and long-term debt obligations. A current ratio — the working capital ratio — below 1 indicates that the company has more liabilities than assets. A high current ratio does not always suggest that the company is in good financial shape. It may also indicate that the firm failed to utilize its assets significantly. Hence, a range of 1-3 is considered ideal.

Quick Ratio: Unlike the current ratio, the quick ratio — the “acid-test ratio” or “quick assets ratio” — indicates a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations. It considers inventory, excluding current assets, relative to current liabilities. A quick ratio of more than 1 is desirable, like the current ratio.

Cash Ratio: This is the most conservative ratio among the three, considering cash and cash equivalents and invested funds relative to current liabilities. It measures a company’s ability to meet existing debt obligations using the most liquid assets. Though a cash ratio of more than 1 may suggest sound financials, a higher number may indicate inefficiency in cash utilization.

A ratio greater than 1 is always desirable, but it may not always represent a company’s financial condition.

Here are four of the eight stocks that qualified the screen:

Commercial Metals provides products and technologies to support the essential reinforcement needs of the global construction industry. It has a manufacturing footprint located mostly across the United States and Central Europe.

The company is actively pursuing M&A to boost its financial profile and long-term growth. In December 2025, CMC acquired Concrete Pipe & Precast, LLC ("CP&P") from Eagle Corporation and ECPP, LLC for $675 million. CP&P supplies precast concrete and pipe products to the South and Mid-Atlantic regions. CMC recently completed the Foley buyout for $1.84 billion. Foley is one of the biggest regional precast producers in the United States.

On the last earnings call, management highlighted that the two acquisitions have “highly complementary footprints” and it expects to see “meaningful synergy opportunities between the 2 companies.” The Foley buyout is anticipated to generate annual run-rate synergies of $25-$30 million of EBITDA by the third year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CMC’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $7.05 per share, unchanged in the past seven days. The company has a Growth Score of B.

EverQuote, headquartered in Cambridge, MA, is an online insurance marketplace. The company's websites allow consumers to shop for auto, home, renters and life insurance.

EverQuote is benefiting from its exclusive data assets and technology, a deepened focus on the core property and casualty (P&C) insurance vertical and a robust financial profile. It is also focused on streamlining traffic operations, boosting AI-powered bidding solutions and rolling out advanced agent technology platforms, which position it well for long-term growth. Recovery in automotive and other insurance verticals bodes well.

In the last reported quarter, total revenues of $173.9 million beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4.6% and grew 20% year over year. Revenues in the Automotive insurance vertical jumped 21% year over year to $157.6 million. Revenues in the Home and Renters insurance vertical totaled $16.3 million, up 15% year over year. For the fourth quarter, revenues are projected to be $174-$180 million, indicating 20% year-over-year growth at the mid-point.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for EVER’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $1.46 per share, unchanged in the past seven days. The company has a Growth Score of A and a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 37.16%, on average.

PJT Partners is an advisory-focused investment bank. On the last reported quarter’s earnings call, management noted that an improving macro backdrop, marked by higher equity prices, low volatility, strong debt issuance and a reopened IPO market, is acting as a key catalyst for M&A recovery. Additionally, it noted that despite generally favorable credit conditions, elevated interest rates, higher tariffs and rapid technological disruption have created pockets of stress across the technology, media, healthcare, automotive and consumer industries.

These dynamics are expected to offer liability-management opportunities. As a result, management expects restructuring results to meet or top the previous year’s performance.

The company reported third-quarter 2025 revenues of $447 million, up 37% year over year, driven by strategic advisory revenues. Restructuring revenues rose marginally, while PJT Park Hill revenues were unchanged year over year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for PJT’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $6.85 per share, unchanged in the past seven days. The company has a Growth Score of A and a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 36.33%, on average.

Ciena is a leading provider of optical networking equipment, software and services. Its fiscal fourth-quarter results reflected a 20% year-over-year top-line rise, 69.5% EPS growth and a record $5-million order backlog, driven by accelerating AI-led demand from cloud and service provider customers.

Driven by strong cloud and service provider momentum, Ciena expects further gains in 2026. Networking Platforms revenues rose 22% to $1.05 billion, driven by 19% Optical growth on a 72% RLS surge, and 49% growth in Routing and Switching from DCOM demand. Ciena lifted its fiscal 2026 revenue outlook to $5.7-$6.1 billion, suggesting nearly 24% growth at the midpoint, up from the prior 17%, on strong demand from cloud, DCI and AI infrastructure. However, it faces near-term NPI and input cost pressures but expects margin improvement in late fiscal 2026 through supply rebalancing, cost cuts and pricing actions.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CIEN’s fiscal 2026 earnings is pegged at $5.15 per share, unchanged in the past seven days. The company has a Growth Score of A and a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 22.98%, on average.

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For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2809287/4-top-ranked-liquid-stocks-to-enhance-portfolio-returns-in-2026

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

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