Beat the Market the Zacks Way: Limbach, Stride, Cencora in Focus

Last Friday, the three most widely followed benchmark indexes closed a losing week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 declined 0.2%, 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively.

Throughout the week, trade was influenced by continuing uncertainty about President Trump’s tariff polices. The week started with investor apprehension about the 1005 tariff that the White House imposed on movies produced outside the United States. Oil prices hit a 4-year low and significantly, U.S. trade deficit hit an all-time high for March.

Investors, however, are keeping an eye out for inflation data that comes out this 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:

Limbach and Babcock Surge Following Zacks Rank Upgrade

Shares of Limbach Holdings, Inc. LMB have gained 66.9% (versus the S&P 500’s 2.3% increase) since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on March 14.

Another stock, Babcock International Group PLC BCKIY, which was also upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on March 14, has returned 17.5% since then.

A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy) stocks returned -8.32% in 2025 (through May 5^th) vs. -5.35% 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 May 5^th, 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 Limbach’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>

Check Babcock’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>

Zacks Recommendation Upgrades IHS Holding and Engie

Shares of IHS Holding Limited IHS and Engie SA ENGIY have advanced 21.3% and 6.1% (versus the S&P 500’s 0.03% rise), respectively, since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on March 21.

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 Huntington Ingalls, CACI Shoot Up

Shares of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. HII, which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have gained 41.7% over the past 12 weeks. The stock was added to the Focus List on May 9, 2016. Another Focus-List holding, CACI International Inc CACI, which was added to the portfolio on December 2, 2015, has returned 34.3% over the past 12 weeks. The S&P 500 has declined 6.5% over this period. 

The Focus List portfolio has returned -3.23% through April 30^th, 2025, vs. -4.92% for the S&P 500 index and -2.88% for the equal-weight version of the index.

The 50-stock 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%.

Since 2004, the Focus List portfolio has produced an annualized return of +11.33% (through the end of April 2025). This compares to a +9.95% annualized return for the S&P 500 index and +9.17% for the equal-weight version of the index in the same time period.

The portfolio lags the broader market over the preceding year (+10.74% vs. +12.12%), but leads over the preceding 3-year (+47.29% vs. +41.16%), 5-year (+122.94% vs. +106.51%), and 10-year (+225.28% vs. +219.55%) periods.

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 Fair Isaac & Cencora Make Significant Gains

Fair Isaac Corporation FICO, a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), has jumped 18.2% over the past 12 weeks. Cencora, Inc. COR has followed Fair Isaac with 16.2% 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 American Tower and J.M. Smucker Outperform Peers

American Tower Corporation AMT, which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 16.1% over the past 12 weeks. Another ECDP stock, The J. M. Smucker Company SJM, has climbed 7.4% 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 American Tower's dividend history here>>>

Check J.M. Smucker’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 +5.74% in 2025 Q1 vs. the S&P 500 index’s -2.41% pullback and the Dividend Aristocrats ETF’s (NOBL) +3.11% return.

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 50.6% year to date against the S&P 500 Index’s 3.7% decrease.

The Top 10 portfolio returned -7.88% this year (through the end of April 2025) vs. -4.92% for the S&P 500 index and -2.88% 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 +1832.3% through the end of April 2025 vs. +434.2% for the S&P 500 index and +338.6% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average return of +24.3% in the period 2012 through April 30, 2025, vs. +11.6% for the S&P 500 index and +9.58% 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