Zacks Rank Performance and Featured Stocks

Shares of Hecla Mining Company (Ticker: HL) and Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. (Ticker: SHLS) have gained +50.58% (versus the S&P 500’s +4.76% increase) and +19.65% (versus the S&P 500’s +3.55% increase) since they were upgraded to Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on July 1^st and July 7^th, respectively.

Shares of Centene Corporation (Ticker: CNC) and Boise Cascade Company (Ticker: BCC) have lost -7.82% (versus the S&P 500’s +3.84% gain) and -0.34% (versus the S&P 500’s +4.35% increase) since they were downgraded to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) on July 14^th and July 9^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 +1.47% in 2025 (through August 4^th) vs. +5.60% for the S&P 500 index and +6.77% for the equal-weight version of the 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 August 4^th, 2025, the Zacks # 1 Rank stocks generated an annualized average return of +23.6% vs. +11.3% for the S&P 500 index).

Zacks Recommendation Featured Stocks

Shares of OPENLANE, Inc. (Ticker: KAR) and GE Aerospace (Ticker: GE) have gained +16.7% (versus the S&P 500’s +4.08% increase) and +9.32% (versus the S&P 500’s +3.84% increase) since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on July 16^th and July 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 Shopify Inc. (Ticker: SHOP) from the Zacks Focus List have gained +31.78% over the past three months. The stock was added to the Focus List on September 6^th, 2022. Another Focus-List holding, Sea Limited (Ticker: SE), which was added to the portfolio on March 26^th, 2020, has returned +15.71% over the past three months. The S&P 500 advanced by +8.05% over this period.

The 50-stock Focus List portfolio returned 10.91% in 2025 (through July 31^st, 2025) vs. +8.59% for the S&P 500 index and +5.84% 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 leads the broader market over the preceding one, three, five and ‘since 2004’ periods. These annualized return comparisons are: +17.71% for the Focus List vs. +16.35% for the index over the one-year period, +19.21% vs. +17.101% over the 3-year period, +16.98% vs. +15.88% over the 5-year period, and +11.9% vs. +10.51% since 2004.

Zacks ECAP Performance and Featured Stocks

AutoZone, Inc. (Ticker: AZO) has gained +13.45% over the past three months. Another ECAP stock, Mettler-Toledo International Inc. (Ticker: MTD), has returned +10.25% 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 +0.20% in the second quarter of 2025 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +10.94% gain (SPY ETF). In the year-to-date period through June 30^th, the portfolio returned +3.93% vs. +6.20% 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 +15.09% over the past three months. Another ECDP stock, The Home Depot, Inc. (Ticker: HD), has returned +14.05% over the same time frame.

The Zacks Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP) returned -3.17% in 2025 Q2 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +10.94% gain and the Dividend Aristocrats ETF’s (NOBL) -0.09% return. Year-to-date (through June 30^th), the portfolio returned +2.38% vs. +2.18% 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

Stride, Inc. (Ticker: LRN), from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2025, has gained +54.65% since the list was released on January 2^nd. During this period, the S&P 500 has increased by +10.5%.

The Top 10 portfolio returned +16.9% this year (through the end of July 2025) vs. +8.6% for the S&P 500 index and +5.8% 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 +2,220.4% through the end of July 2025 vs. +517.8% for the S&P 500 index and +378% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average return of +26.1% in the period 2012 through July 31, 2025, vs. +14.4% for the S&P 500 index and +12.2% for the equal-weight version of the index.