3 Must-Buy Low-Beta Stocks Flying High Year to Date With More Upside

Wall Street saw an impressive bull run in 2023 and 2024. However, 2025 has turned out mixed so far for the U.S. stock markets. The rally initially paused due to concerns of sticky inflation and the Fed’s ambiguity about continuing the low-interest rate regime after a 1% cut in the benchmark lending rate last year.

However, severe volatility gripped Wall Street since the beginning of April following the implementation of the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariff policies. Although the baseline tariff was 10%, the actual tariff rate exceeded 70% for several major trading partners of the United States. 

These countries have also imposed retaliatory tariffs, which heightened the fear of a global trade war. Although some trade-related negotiations have been settled and negotiations with other major countries are ongoing, we are not out of the woods. 

At this stage, we recommend three low-beta (beta >0 <1) stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank that have soared year to date. Their favorable Zacks Rank indicates more upside in the near future. The stocks are: Philip Morris International Inc. PM, Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. SFM and Newmont Corp. NEM. Each of our picks sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The chart below shows the price performance of our three picks year to date.

Philip Morris International Inc.

Philip Morris has benefited from strong pricing power and an expanding smoke-free product portfolio. PM has been making significant progress with its smoke-free transition, with products like IQOS and ZYN contributing to strong performance. In fact, PM aims to become substantially smoke-free by 2030.

Philip Morris is set for another year of robust growth in 2025, driven by increasing demand across all product categories. PM anticipates positive volume growth for the fifth consecutive year, with an expected increase of 2%. Smoke-free products remain a key growth driver, projected to expand by 12-14%, reinforcing PM’s strategic shift toward reduced-risk alternatives.

Philip Morris has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 8.1% and 13.7%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 3.3% over the last 30 days. PM has a beta of 0.50. The stock price has jumped 44.7% year to date.

Sprouts Farmers Market Inc.

Sprouts Farmers’ focus on product innovation, emphasis on e-commerce, expansion of private label offerings and targeted marketing with everyday great pricing bodes well. SFM has been lowering operational complexity, optimizing production, improving in-stock position and updating to smaller-format stores. These efforts helped SFM post better-than-expected fourth-quarter 2024 results, wherein both top and bottom lines grew year over year. 

Buoyed by the performance, Sprouts Farmers provided a decent 2025 view. SFM expects net sales to rise between 10.5% and 12.5% with comps anticipated to increase in the range of 4.5-6.5%. SFM’s strong sales growth, margin expansion and disciplined financial management position it as a compelling investment opportunity. 

Sprouts Farmers has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 13.7% and 35.5%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 1.4% over the last seven days. SFM has a beta of 0.87. The stock price has surged 32.2% year to date.

Newmont Corp.

Newmont is making notable progress with its growth projects. NEM is likely to gain from several projects, including the Tanami expansion. The acquisition of Newcrest also created an industry-leading portfolio providing opportunities for significant synergies. NEM also remains focused on improving operational efficiency and returning value to its shareholders.

Newmont has received full funds approval for its Ahafo North project, which has reached the execution stage. Commercial production for the project is expected to commence in second-half 2025. NEM remains committed to Ghana, investing $950 million to $1,050 million in development capital for Ahafo North. 

Newmont has an expected revenue and earnings growth rate of 2% and 12.6%, respectively, for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 5.4% over the last 30 days. NEM has a beta of 0.31. The stock price has climbed 40.5% year to date.

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

Zacks Investment Research