Zacks Rank Performance and Featured Stocks

Shares of Ekso Bionics Holdings, Inc. (Ticker: EKSO) and Five Below, Inc. (Ticker: FIVE) gained +115.88% (versus the S&P 500’s +4.37% increase) and +13.79% (versus the S&P 500’s +1.04% increase) since they were upgraded to Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on November 20^th and December 5^th, respectively.

Shares of Lakeland Industries, Inc. (Ticker: LAKE) and Qfin Holdings, Inc. (Ticker: QFIN) have lost -37.24% (versus the S&P 500’s +1.16% increase) and -20.62% (versus the S&P 500’s +1.49% increase) since they were downgraded to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) on December 9^th and December 3^rd, respectively.

Zacks Rank, our short-term rating system, has earnings estimate revisions at its core. Empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

The Zacks Rank is a powerful predictive tool for timing investment decisions ahead of most other systems. A Zacks Rank of #1 or 2 signals strong potential for market outperformance. Conversely, a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell) or #5 (Strong Sell) serves as an early warning of potential weakness, providing investors the opportunity to lock in profits and avoid unnecessary losses.

An equal-weight portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy) stocks outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 index by 7 percentage points in 2025 (+17.81% for the Zacks Rank #1 stocks vs. +10.85% for the index).

This hypothetical equal-weight portfolio returned +22.4% in 2024 vs. +13.7% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index. Over the preceding 10-year period (2016 through 2025), this portfolio of qual-weight Zacks Rank #1 stocks has outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 index by more than 7 percentage points (+18.55% vs. +11.65%).

Zacks Recommendation Featured Stocks

Shares of Lumentum Holdings Inc. (Ticker: LITE) and BHP Group Limited (Ticker: BHP) have gained +23.25% (versus the S&P 500’s +1.66% increase) and +17.81% (versus the S&P 500’s +1.16% increase) since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on December 2^nd and December 9^th, respectively.  

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.

Zacks Focus List Model Portfolio Performance and Featured Stocks

Shares of Micron Technology, Inc. (Ticker: MU) from the Zacks Focus List have gained +85.4% over the past three months. The stock was added to the Focus List on December 27^th, 2016. Another Focus-List holding, Lam Research Corporation (Ticker: LRCX), which was added to the portfolio on December 5^th, 2016, has returned +48.27% over the past three months. The S&P 500 advanced by +1.43% over this period.

The 50-stock Focus List portfolio returned +22.1% in 2025 vs. +17.9% for the S&P 500 index and +11.4% 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 has outperformed on a rolling one-year (+22.1% vs. +17.9%), three years (+23.3% vs. +23.01%), and 10 years (+15.5% vs. +14.8%) and since 2004 (+12.1% vs. +10.7%).

Zacks ECAP Performance and Featured Stocks

Novo Nordisk A/S (Ticker: NVO) has gained +20.16% over the past three months. Another ECAP stock, Intercontinental Exchange, Inc. (Ticker: ICE), has returned +18.79% over the same period.

The Zacks Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), which consists of 30 concentrated, ultra-defensive, long-term Buy-and-Hold stocks, returned -2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2025 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +2.7% gain (SPY ETF). For 2025 as a whole, the portfolio returned -1.67% vs. +17.9% 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%.

Zacks ECDP Performance and Featured Stocks

Colgate-Palmolive Company (Ticker: CL) has gained +17.18% over the past three months. Another ECDP stock, The Hershey Company (Ticker: HSY), has returned +14.81% over the same time frame.

The Zacks Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP) returned -2.1% in 2025 Q4 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +2.7% gain and the Dividend Aristocrats ETF’s (NOBL) +1.6% return. For 2025, the portfolio returned -0.6% vs. +6.8% 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.

Zacks Top 10 Stocks

VSE Corporation (Ticker: VSEC), from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2026, has gained +20.54% since the list was released on January 5, 2026. During this period, the S&P 500 has increased by +1.29%.

The Top 10 portfolio returned +22.6% in 2025 vs. +17.9% for the S&P 500 index and +11.4% 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 +2,472.7%vs. +561.6% for the S&P 500 index and +403.3% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average annual return of +25.8% in the period 2012 through year-end 2025, vs. +13.1% for the S&P 500 index and +10.5% for the equal-weight version of the index.