Zacks Rank Performance and Featured Stocks

Shares of Liquidia Corporation (Ticker: LQDA) and The Bank of N.T. Butterfield & Son Limited (Ticker: NTB) gained +43.94% (versus the S&P 500’s +4.41% increase) and +22.74% (versus the S&P 500’s +1.52% increase) since they were upgraded to Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) and Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on October 13^th and October 7^th, respectively.

Shares of Owens Corning (Ticker: OC) and Alibaba Group Holding Limited (Ticker: BABA) have lost -9.56% (versus the S&P 500’s +2.96% increase) and -6.67% (versus the S&P 500’s +2.84% increase) since they were downgraded to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) on October 15^th and October 14^th, 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.

A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy) stocks returned +14.3% in 2025 (through December 1^st) vs. +14.9% 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 December 1^st, 2025, the Zacks # 1 Rank stocks generated an annualized average return of +23.9% vs. +11.5% for the S&P 500 index).

Zacks Recommendation Featured Stocks

Shares of Western Digital Corporation (Ticker: WDC) and Commercial Metals (Ticker: CMC) have gained +52.78% (versus the S&P 500’s +4.41% increase) and +19.39% (versus the S&P 500’s +2.84% increase) since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on October 13^th and October 14^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 HCA Healthcare, Inc. (Ticker: HCA) from the Zacks Focus List have gained +20.24% over the past three months. The stock was added to the Focus List on January 7^th, 2019. Another Focus-List holding, Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc. (Ticker: HII), which was added to the portfolio on May 9^th, 2016, has returned +19.74% over the past three months. The S&P 500 advanced by +3.16% over this period.

The 50-stock Focus List portfolio returned +22% in 2025 (through November 30^th, 2025) vs. +17.8% for the S&P 500 index and +10.9% 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%.

Zacks ECAP Performance and Featured Stocks

Cencora, Inc. (Ticker: COR) has gained +18.74% over the past three months. Another ECAP stock, Fair Isaac Corporation (Ticker: FICO), has returned +18.63% 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 -1.30% in the third quarter of 2025 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +8.1% gain (SPY ETF). In the year-to-date period through September 30^th, the portfolio returned +2.72% vs. +14.84% 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

Johnson & Johnson (Ticker: JNJ) has gained +19.27% over the past three months. Another ECDP stock, PepsiCo, Inc. (Ticker: PEP), has returned +7.12% over the same time frame.

The Zacks Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP) returned -0.01% in 2025 Q3 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +8.1% gain and the Dividend Aristocrats ETF’s (NOBL) +2.90% return. Year-to-date (through September 30^th), the portfolio returned +1.58% vs. +5.15% 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

Coherent Corp. (Ticker: COHR), from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2025, has gained +88.26% since the list was released on January 2^nd. During this period, the S&P 500 has increased by +16.39%.

The Top 10 portfolio returned +25.4% this year (through the end of November 2025) vs. +17.8% for the S&P 500 index and +10.9% 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 +2,530.8% through the end of November 2025 vs. +562% for the S&P 500 index and +401% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average return of +26.1% in the period 2012 through November 30, 2025, vs. +13.2% for the S&P 500 index and +10.5% for the equal-weight version of the index.