The artificial intelligence (AI)-driven astonishing bull run of 2023 and 2024 has suffered major hurdles in 2025. The highly overstretched valuation of U.S. stocks, sticky inflation, several weak economic data, geopolitical conflicts and severe concerns related to the Trump administration’s tariff and trade policies have significantly dented market participants confidence in risky assets like equities.

A large section of economists and financial researchers have warned of a near-term recession too. The U.S. GDP contracted for the first time in three years in first-quarter 2025. 

Nevertheless, better-than-expected nonfarm payrolls data for April and optimism surrounding the U.S. government’s trade and tariff-related negotiations with various major economies will boost market participants’ sentiment.

Consequently, a handful of stocks have shown price strength. We have primarily targeted stocks that have recently been on a bull run. Such stocks have a high chance of carrying the momentum forward.

Five such stocks are — Sezzle Inc. (SEZL Quick QuoteSEZL - Free Report) , Dave Inc. (DAVE Quick QuoteDAVE - Free Report) , Tutor Perini Corp. (TPC Quick QuoteTPC - Free Report) , Life360 Inc. (LIF Quick QuoteLIF - Free Report) and Limbach Holdings Inc. (LMB Quick QuoteLMB - Free Report) .
If a stock is continuously witnessing an uptrend, there must be a solid reason or it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.

However, recent price strength alone cannot create magic. Therefore, other relevant parameters are needed to create a successful investment strategy.

Here’s how you should create the screen to shortlist the current as well as the potential winners.

Screening Parameters:

Percentage Change in Price (4 Weeks) greater than zero: This criterion shows that the stock has moved higher in the last four weeks. 

Percentage Change Price (12 Weeks) greater than 10: This indicates that the stock has seen momentum over the last three months. This lowers the risk of choosing stocks that may have drawn attention due to the overwhelming performance of the overall market in a very short period. 

Zacks Rank 1: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven history of outperformance. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Average Broker Rating 1: This indicates that brokers are also highly hopeful about the stock’s future performance. 

Current Price greater than 5: The stocks must all be trading at a minimum of $5.

Current Price/ 52-Week High-Low Range more than 85%: This criterion filters stocks that are trading near their respective 52-week highs. It indicates that these are strong enough in terms of price.

Just these few criteria narrowed down the search from over 7,700 stocks to just nine.

Let’s discuss five out of these nine stocks here:

Sezzle operates as a technology-enabled payments company primarily in the United States and Canada. SEZL provides its proprietary payments solution in-store and at online retail stores that connect consumers with merchants. 

SEZL also offers the Sezzle Platform, which provides a payments solution for consumers that extends credit at the point-of-sale, allowing consumers to purchase and receive the ordered merchandise at the time of sale while paying in installments over time. 

The stock price of Sezzle has soared 1119.5% in the past four weeks. The company has expected earnings growth of 76.1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved 46.6% over the last 30 days.

Dave provides various financial products and services through its financial services platform in the United States. DAVE offers Budget, a personal financial management tool that helps members with budgeting, and managing income and expenses. It also provides Dave Banking, a digital checking and demand deposit account.

Moreover, DAVE provides ExtraCash, a short-term liquidity alternative, which allows members to advance funds to their account through an automated clearing house network and avoid a fee, Side Hustle, a job application portal to find supplemental or temporary work, and Surveys, which enables members to take paid surveys within the Dave mobile application. 

The stock price of Dave has jumped 112.3% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 60.5% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 16.2% over the last seven days.

Tutor Perini provides diversified general contracting, construction management and design-build services to private clients and public agencies worldwide. TPC operates in four segments: Civil, Building, Specialty Contractors, and Management Services. The Civil segment is engaged in public works construction activities and the repair, replacement, and reconstruction of infrastructure. 

The Building segment of TPC offers services in specialized building markets, including hospitality and gaming, transportation, healthcare, municipal offices, sports and entertainment, education, correctional facilities, biotech, pharmaceutical, industrial, and high technology. 

The Specialty Contractors segment provides plumbing, HVAC, electrical, mechanical, and concrete services for the industrial, commercial, hospitality and gaming, and transportation markets. TPC’s Management Services segment offers construction and design-build services to the U.S. military and government agencies, and multi-national corporations.

The stock price of Tutor Perini has climbed 63.7% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 20.3% over the last 30 days.

Life360 operates as a technology platform to locate people, pets, and things in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and internationally. LIF provides Life360 mobile application under the freemium model that offers communications, driving safety, digital safety, and location sharing: Life360 Platform that provides location coordination and safety, driving safety, digital safety, and emergency assistance services; and mobile-first technology platform that protects members data and ensures integrity, security, and performance. 

LIF also offers place alerts, individual driver reports, crash detection, battery monitoring, SOS help alerts, family driving summary, and customer support. Additionally, LIF provides tile hardware tracking devices to locate lost devices sold through online and brick and tile mobile application.
The stock price of Life360 has surged 52.9% over the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 20% over the last 30 days.

Limbach Holdings operates as a building systems solution company in the United States. LMB operates through two segments, General Contractor Relationships and Owner Direct Relationships. LMB is engaged in construction and renovation projects that primarily include mechanical, plumbing, and electrical services. 

LMB also provides critical system repair, MEP infrastructure projects, maintenance contracts, building automation upgrades, data-driven insights, and program management services.

The stock price of Limbach Holdings has rallied 37.9% over the past four weeks. The company has expected earnings growth of 21.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 27.2% over the last 30 days.

You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.