The three most widely followed indexes closed the second straight losing week last Friday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 2.7% for the week, while the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 2.1% and 1.7%, respectively.
Stocks have finally started to price in bad news, and are not looking up to the Fed with the hope that it will take cognizance and pause its policy-tightening measures. This became clear as Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in his speech at the December FOMC meeting that rate hikes will likely continue in 2023. The Fed raised interest rates by 50 bps in the same meet, ending its streak of four consecutive 75 bps hikes.
The market is operating under apprehensions of an impending recession, and reactive rebounds are making way for a broad sell-off. It remains to be seen, though, as we draw closer to Christmas and New Year, whether a Santa Claus rally comes as a saviour.
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:
e.l.f. Beuty, UniCredit Skyrocket Following Zacks Rank Upgrade
Shares of
e.l.f. Beauty, Inc.
ELF
have surged 46.1% since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on October 3.
Another stock,
UniCredit S.p.A.
UNCRY
, was also upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 on October 4 and has returned 29.2% 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 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 stocks here >>>
Check e.l.f. Beauty’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>
Check UniCredit’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>
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Zacks Recommendation Upgrade Drives Vivint and Blackbaud Higher
Shares of
Vivint Smart Home, Inc.
VVNT
and
Blackbaud, Inc.
BLKB
have soared 72.9% and 31.3% since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on October 7 and October 3, 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 Axon, Caterpillar Surge Ahead
Shares of
Axon Enterprise, Inc.
AXON
, which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have surged 51.3% over the past 12 weeks. The stock was added to the Focus List on June 3, 2020. Another Focus-List holding,
Caterpillar Inc.
CAT
, which was added to the portfolio on April 18, 2017, has returned 36.5% over the past 12 weeks.
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 Novo Nordisk, Oracle Soar
Novo Nordisk A/S
NVO
, a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), jumped 35.5% over the past 12 weeks.
Oracle Corporation
ORCL
followed Novo Nordisk with 20.5% 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 Home Depot, Starbucks Outperform Peers
The Home Depot, Inc.
HD
, which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 20.1% over the past 12 weeks. Another ECDP stock,
Starbucks Corporation
SBUX
, has climbed 16.7% 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 The Home Depot’ 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
.
Click here to access this portfolio on
Zacks Advisor Tools
.
Special Report: The Top 5 IPOs for Your Portfolio
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