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Beat the Market Like Zacks: Starbucks, Walmart, Uber in Focus

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The three most widely followed indexes recorded their biggest gaining week since June despite treasury yields hitting 2008 highs. The S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the tech-heavy Nasdaq ended the week with 4.7%, 4.9% and 5.2% gains, respectively.

Treasury yields rose steadily last week on fears of an impending recession as Fed officials continued to signal that rate hikes would continue well into 2023. However, markets rebounded on better-than-expected earnings data and a notion that losses in the week before were caused due to overselling.

In fact, as the week drew to a close, a few important Fed officials did an eagerly anticipated u-turn, indicating that conversation must start in the central bank regarding easing monetary policy. Even treasury yields fell on Friday on these comments, capping a week of major gains.

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:

Nine Energy, TravelCenters of America Soar Following Zacks Rank Upgrade

Shares of Nine Energy Service, Inc. (NINE - Free Report) have gained 63.1% since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on August 3.

Another stock, TravelCenters of America Inc. , was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on August 3and has returned 21.3% since then.

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.  

This stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +24.8% since 1988.You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>

Check Nine Energy’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>

Check TravelCenters of America’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>          

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Zacks Recommendation Upgrade Drives e.l.f. Beauty, Peapack-Gladstone Higher 

Shares of e.l.f. Beauty, Inc. (ELF - Free Report) and Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation (PGC - Free Report) have gained 22% and 11.8% since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on August 3 and August 1, 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. 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 Model Portfolio Stocks ICF, Uber Surge Ahead

Shares of ICF International, Inc. (ICFI - Free Report) , which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have gained 21.9% over the past three months. The stock was added to the Focus List on April 23, 2018. Another Focus-List holding, Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER - Free Report) , which was added to the portfolio on August 16,2019, has returned 19.5% over the past three months.  

The Zacks Focus List is a model portfolio of 50 hand-picked stocks that possess the right fundamental ingredients to outperform the market over the next 12 months. These 50 stocks are picked from a long list of stocks with the highest Zacks Rank.

Since its inception on February 1, 1996, the Focus List portfolio has delivered an annualized return of +12.9%.

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 AutoZone, Walmart Deliver Solid Returns

AutoZone, Inc. (AZO - Free Report) , a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), jumped 7.7% over the past three months. Walmart Inc. (WMT - Free Report) followed AutoZone with 3.6% returns.

ECAP is a model portfolio of 30 concentrated, ultra-defensive, long-term Buy and Hold stocks.  

With little to no turnover and annual rebalance periodicity, the 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 J. M. Smucker, Starbucks Outperform Peers

The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM - Free Report) , which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 7.9% over the past three months. Another ECDP stock, Starbucks Corporation (SBUX - Free Report) , has climbed 4.5% over the same time frame. Of course, the inclination of investors toward quality dividend stocks to secure an income stream amid the heightened market volatility contributed to this performance.

Check J. M. Smucker’s dividend history here>>>

Check Starbucks’ 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 ECDP has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats ETF (NOBL - Free Report) .

Click here to access this portfolio on Zacks Advisor Tools.  

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