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Bet on These 5 Low-Leverage Stocks as Oil Prices Continue to Rise
Wall Street ended April 23, 2026, on a dismal note, as U.S. stocks tumbled at the bourses after progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks stalled and oil prices rose for a straight fourth day. The U.S. equity market also showed signs of weakness yesterday as software heavyweights ServiceNow and IBM failed to boost investor confidence with their quarterly reports.
Against this backdrop, investors wary of high-beta volatility may consider pivoting toward low-leverage stalwarts. These fiscally conservative companies are better positioned to navigate interest rate fluctuations and geopolitical uncertainty. By providing a stable foundation in a shifting market, they can serve as a strategic hedge against a potential energy-driven economic slowdown.
We recommend low-leverage stocks, such as H World Group Limited, NVIDIA, FTI Consulting, HSBC Holdings and Stantec.
Before selecting low-leverage stocks, it is important to understand what leverage is and how investing in low-leverage companies can benefit investors.
What's the Significance of Low-Leverage Stocks?
In finance, leverage refers to the use of borrowed capital to support business operations and drive expansion. Companies typically raise such funds through debt financing, although equity financing remains an alternative. However, firms often prefer debt due to its relatively lower cost and easier availability compared with issuing equity.
Debt financing comes with inherent risks and is beneficial only when it generates returns that exceed the cost of borrowing. To limit downside risk, investors should be cautious of companies that rely excessively on debt. Ultimately, prudent investing involves selecting businesses with manageable leverage, as completely debt-free companies are rare.
The equity market can be volatile at times. As an investor, if you want to avoid significant losses, we suggest focusing on stocks with low leverage, which are generally deemed less risky.
To identify such stocks, several leverage ratios have historically been developed to measure the amount of debt a company carries. The debt-to-equity ratio is among the most widely used financial ratios.
Analyzing Debt/Equity
Debt-to-Equity Ratio = Total Liabilities/Shareholders' Equity
This metric is a liquidity ratio that indicates the amount of financial risk a company bears. A lower debt-to-equity ratio reflects improved solvency for a company.
With the first-quarter 2026 earnings in its first lap, investors should focus on stocks that have demonstrated solid earnings growth in recent periods.
If a stock carries a high debt-to-equity ratio during an economic downturn, its seemingly strong earnings could quickly turn into a nightmare.
The Winning Strategy
Considering the aforementioned factors, it would be prudent to choose stocks with a low debt-to-equity ratio to ensure steady returns.
Yet, an investment strategy based solely on the debt-to-equity ratio might not fetch the desired outcome. To select stocks with the potential to provide steady returns, we have expanded our screening criteria to include additional factors.
Excluding stocks that have a negative or a zero debt-to-equity ratio, we present our five picks out of the 18 stocks that made it through the screen.
H World Group Ltd.: It is a hotel management company. On March 18, 2026, the company reported its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended Dec. 31, 2025. In the fourth quarter, hotel GMV rose 18.4% year over year, while revenues from managed and franchised (M&F) hotels increased 21%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HTHT's 2026 sales indicates an improvement of 9.5% from the prior-year reported level. The stock boasts a long-term (three-to-five years) earnings growth rate of 19.10%. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.
NVIDIA: It is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit (GPU). On April 22, 2026,
NVIDIA announced that it is collaborating with Google Cloud to expand Google Cloud AI Hypercomputer for AI factories that will power the next frontier of agentic and physical AI.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVDA's fiscal 2027 revenues indicates an improvement of 65.4% from the prior-year reported actuals. The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 39.10%. NVDA currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
FTI Consulting: It is a global business advisory firm aimed at helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk, and resolve financial, legal, operational, political, and regulatory, reputational, and transactional disputes. On April 22, 2026, FTI Consulting announced the expansion of its Health and Human Services practice with the appointment of three senior professionals in Australia.
Against the backdrop of the Australian healthcare system facing rising demand, workforce constraints, and sustained funding pressures, FCN's team will help clients navigate these challenges by scaling digital health, data-led care, and applied AI across clinical, operational, and administrative workflows.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCN's 2026 revenues indicates an improvement of 5.8% from the prior-year reported number. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCN's 2026 earnings indicates an improvement of 5.3% from the prior-year reported actual. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
HSBC Holdings: It is a major global banking and financial services firm. On March 23, 2026, the company announced David Rice's appointment as HSBC's first Chief AI Officer. The appointment came as part of HSBC's wider focus on deploying AI at scale across the company by making generative AI tools available to all staff to simplify processes, procedures and policies, and equip customer-facing colleagues with the AI tools they need to deliver more personalized services.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HSBC's 2026 revenues indicates an improvement of 5.9% from the prior-year reported actuals. The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 12.3%. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
Stantec: It provides professional consulting services in planning, engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, and geomatics. On April 21, 2026, the company released its 19th annual Sustainability Report, highlighting 68% of its gross revenues were sustainability-driven. The report also showcased that Stantec achieved global operational carbon neutrality for the fourth consecutive year, with continued progress toward net zero emissions under Canada's Net Zero Challenge.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STN's 2026 revenues suggests an improvement of 12.5% from the year-ago reported level. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STN's 2026 earnings implies an improvement of 18.2% from the prior-year figure. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
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.
About Screen of the Week
Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.
Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News
Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.
Zacks' 7 Best Strong Buy Stocks (New Research Report)
Valued at $99, click below to receive our just-released report
predicting the 7 stocks that will soar highest in the coming month.
View the Zacks #1 Rank List
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Zacks.com featured highlights include H World, NVIDIA, FTI Consulting, HSBC and Stantec
For Immediate Release
Chicago, IL – April 27, 2026 – Stocks in this week’s article areH World Group Limited (HTHT - Free Report) , NVIDIA (NVDA - Free Report) , FTI Consulting (FCN - Free Report) , HSBC Holdings (HSBC - Free Report) and Stantec (STN - Free Report) .
Bet on These 5 Low-Leverage Stocks as Oil Prices Continue to Rise
Wall Street ended April 23, 2026, on a dismal note, as U.S. stocks tumbled at the bourses after progress in U.S.-Iran peace talks stalled and oil prices rose for a straight fourth day. The U.S. equity market also showed signs of weakness yesterday as software heavyweights ServiceNow and IBM failed to boost investor confidence with their quarterly reports.
Against this backdrop, investors wary of high-beta volatility may consider pivoting toward low-leverage stalwarts. These fiscally conservative companies are better positioned to navigate interest rate fluctuations and geopolitical uncertainty. By providing a stable foundation in a shifting market, they can serve as a strategic hedge against a potential energy-driven economic slowdown.
We recommend low-leverage stocks, such as H World Group Limited, NVIDIA, FTI Consulting, HSBC Holdings and Stantec.
Before selecting low-leverage stocks, it is important to understand what leverage is and how investing in low-leverage companies can benefit investors.
What's the Significance of Low-Leverage Stocks?
In finance, leverage refers to the use of borrowed capital to support business operations and drive expansion. Companies typically raise such funds through debt financing, although equity financing remains an alternative. However, firms often prefer debt due to its relatively lower cost and easier availability compared with issuing equity.
Debt financing comes with inherent risks and is beneficial only when it generates returns that exceed the cost of borrowing. To limit downside risk, investors should be cautious of companies that rely excessively on debt. Ultimately, prudent investing involves selecting businesses with manageable leverage, as completely debt-free companies are rare.
The equity market can be volatile at times. As an investor, if you want to avoid significant losses, we suggest focusing on stocks with low leverage, which are generally deemed less risky.
To identify such stocks, several leverage ratios have historically been developed to measure the amount of debt a company carries. The debt-to-equity ratio is among the most widely used financial ratios.
Analyzing Debt/Equity
Debt-to-Equity Ratio = Total Liabilities/Shareholders' Equity
This metric is a liquidity ratio that indicates the amount of financial risk a company bears. A lower debt-to-equity ratio reflects improved solvency for a company.
With the first-quarter 2026 earnings in its first lap, investors should focus on stocks that have demonstrated solid earnings growth in recent periods.
If a stock carries a high debt-to-equity ratio during an economic downturn, its seemingly strong earnings could quickly turn into a nightmare.
The Winning Strategy
Considering the aforementioned factors, it would be prudent to choose stocks with a low debt-to-equity ratio to ensure steady returns.
Yet, an investment strategy based solely on the debt-to-equity ratio might not fetch the desired outcome. To select stocks with the potential to provide steady returns, we have expanded our screening criteria to include additional factors.
Excluding stocks that have a negative or a zero debt-to-equity ratio, we present our five picks out of the 18 stocks that made it through the screen.
H World Group Ltd.: It is a hotel management company. On March 18, 2026, the company reported its unaudited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ended Dec. 31, 2025. In the fourth quarter, hotel GMV rose 18.4% year over year, while revenues from managed and franchised (M&F) hotels increased 21%.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HTHT's 2026 sales indicates an improvement of 9.5% from the prior-year reported level. The stock boasts a long-term (three-to-five years) earnings growth rate of 19.10%. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.
NVIDIA: It is the worldwide leader in visual computing technologies and the inventor of the graphic processing unit (GPU). On April 22, 2026,
NVIDIA announced that it is collaborating with Google Cloud to expand Google Cloud AI Hypercomputer for AI factories that will power the next frontier of agentic and physical AI.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NVDA's fiscal 2027 revenues indicates an improvement of 65.4% from the prior-year reported actuals. The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 39.10%. NVDA currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
FTI Consulting: It is a global business advisory firm aimed at helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk, and resolve financial, legal, operational, political, and regulatory, reputational, and transactional disputes. On April 22, 2026, FTI Consulting announced the expansion of its Health and Human Services practice with the appointment of three senior professionals in Australia.
Against the backdrop of the Australian healthcare system facing rising demand, workforce constraints, and sustained funding pressures, FCN's team will help clients navigate these challenges by scaling digital health, data-led care, and applied AI across clinical, operational, and administrative workflows.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCN's 2026 revenues indicates an improvement of 5.8% from the prior-year reported number. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FCN's 2026 earnings indicates an improvement of 5.3% from the prior-year reported actual. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
HSBC Holdings: It is a major global banking and financial services firm. On March 23, 2026, the company announced David Rice's appointment as HSBC's first Chief AI Officer. The appointment came as part of HSBC's wider focus on deploying AI at scale across the company by making generative AI tools available to all staff to simplify processes, procedures and policies, and equip customer-facing colleagues with the AI tools they need to deliver more personalized services.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HSBC's 2026 revenues indicates an improvement of 5.9% from the prior-year reported actuals. The stock boasts a long-term earnings growth rate of 12.3%. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
Stantec: It provides professional consulting services in planning, engineering, architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, surveying, and geomatics. On April 21, 2026, the company released its 19th annual Sustainability Report, highlighting 68% of its gross revenues were sustainability-driven. The report also showcased that Stantec achieved global operational carbon neutrality for the fourth consecutive year, with continued progress toward net zero emissions under Canada's Net Zero Challenge.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STN's 2026 revenues suggests an improvement of 12.5% from the year-ago reported level. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for STN's 2026 earnings implies an improvement of 18.2% from the prior-year figure. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2907896/bet-on-these-5-low-leverage-stocks-as-oil-prices-continue-to-rise
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.
About Screen of the Week
Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.
Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News
Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.
Follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/zacksresearch
Join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch
Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.
Contact: Jim Giaquinto
Company: Zacks.com
Phone: 312-265-9268
Email: pr@zacks.com
Visit: https://www.zacks.com/
Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.
Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.