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Take the Zacks Approach to Beat the Market: Caterpillar, Amgen, Inventiva in Focus

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Wall Street closed last week with gains, led by positive signs from economic indicators. The tech-heavy Nasdaq, the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the week with 2.2%, 4% and 5.7% gains, respectively.

Although treasury yields continued to rise, signals from the Fed that interest rate hikes would be slowed down from December and eventually take a pause early in 2023 drove the market. An encouraging earnings report from Apple Inc. (AAPL - Free Report) managed to stem the rot in big-tech giants, and the sector recovered for the week.

Moreover, GDP grew modestly in the third quarter, spurring hopes that the market has already bottomed out. With the Fed already seeing results from its stringent policy tightening and intending to go slow, fears of an impending recession are getting allayed.

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:

Inventiva, Koppers Holdings Surge Following Zacks Rank Upgrade

Shares of Inventiva S.A. (IVA - Free Report) have gained 22.2% since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on August 11.

Another stock, Koppers Holdings Inc. (KOP - Free Report) , was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 on August 8and has returned 5.8% 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 Inventiva’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>

Check Koppers Holdings’ historical EPS and Sales here>>>            

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Zacks Recommendation Upgrade Drives KnowBe4 and Custom Truck Higher  

Shares of KnowBe4, Inc. and Custom Truck One Source, Inc. (CTOS - Free Report) have gained 26.7% and 5.3% since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on August 12 and August 10, 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 Axon, Caterpillar Surge Ahead

Shares of Axon Enterprise, Inc. (AXON - Free Report) , which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have gained 21.8% over the past 12 weeks. The stock was added to the Focus List on June 3, 2020. Another Focus-List holding, Caterpillar Inc. (CAT - Free Report) , which was added to the portfolio on April 18,2017, has returned 19.4% 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 Tractor Supply, AmerisourceBergen Deliver Solid Returns

Tractor Supply Company (TSCO - Free Report) , a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), jumped 18.8% over the past 12 weeks. AmerisourceBergen Corporation followed Tractor Supply with 14.4% 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, Amgen Outperform Peers  

The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM - Free Report) , which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 13.2% over the past 12 weeks. Another ECDP stock, Amgen Inc. (AMGN - Free Report) , has climbed 10.9% 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 Amgen’s 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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