Take the Zacks Approach to Beat the Markets: StoneCo, Axon, Intuit in Focus
June 2, 2025
The three most widely followed U.S. indexes ended in the red during the holiday-shortened trading week. The Nasdaq Composite declined by 0.44%, whereas the S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.17% each. Renewed trade tensions with the European Union and China have led to a downbeat market sentiment.
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The Federal Reserve's meeting minutes for May suggest that the implementation of new foreign trade tariff policies could lead to persistent inflation, curb economic growth and reduce global faith in U.S. assets. The second estimate of Q1 2025 Gross Domestic Product shrank at an annual rate of 0.2%, a slight upgrade from the initial estimate of 0.3% decline, but still the first drop in three years. The labor market remains resilient but shows slight signs of weakening. The U.S. jobless aid rose to 240,000 for the week ending May 24th, and Continuing Jobless Claims increased to 1.92 million.
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:
Banco Comercial Português and PDS Biotechnology Following Zacks Rank Upgrade
Shares of
Banco Comercial Português, S.A.
BPCGY have gained 13.9% (versus the S&P 500’s 6.1% increase) since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on March 31.
Another stock,
PDS Biotechnology Corporation
PDSB, which was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 on March 31, has returned 9.5% (versus the S&P 500’s 6.1% increase) since then.
A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 (Strong Buy) stocks returned -8.32% in 2025 (through May 5) vs. -5.35% for the S&P 500 index.
This portfolio returned +22.4% in 2024, vs. +28% for the S&P 500 index and +19.9% for the equal-weight version of the S&P 500 index.
This hypothetical portfolio returned +20.65% in 2023 vs. +24.83% for the S&P 500 index and +15% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index.
The Zacks Model Portfolio - consisting of Zacks Rank #1 stocks – has outperformed the S&P index by more than 12 percentage points since 1988 (through May 5, 2025, the Zacks # 1 Rank stocks generated an annualized average return of +23.5% vs. +11% for the S&P 500 index).
You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here >>>
Check Banco Comercial Português’ historical EPS and Sales here>>>
Check PDS Biotechnology’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>
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Zacks Recommendation Upgrades StoneCo and BlackBerry
Shares of
StoneCo Ltd.
STNE and
BlackBerry Limited
BB have advanced 30.9% (versus the S&P 500’s 18.7% increase) and 26.1% (versus the S&P 500’s 9.6% increase) since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on April 9 and March 4, 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 Stocks Axon, Quanta Services Shoot Up
Shares of
Axon Enterprise, Inc.
AXON, which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have gained 42% over the past 12 weeks. The stock was added to the Focus List on June 3, 2020. Another Focus-List holding,
Quanta Services, Inc.
PWR, which was added to the portfolio on December 23, 2021, has returned 31.9% over the past 12 weeks. The S&P 500 has dipped 0.8% over this period.
The Focus List portfolio has returned -3.23% through April 30, 2025, vs. -4.92% for the S&P 500 index and -2.88% for the equal-weight version of the index.
The 50-stock Zacks Focus List portfolio returned +18.41% in 2024 vs. +25.04% for the S&P 500 index and +13% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index. The portfolio had returned +29.54% in 2023 vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index and +13.61% for the equal-weight S&P 500 index. In 2022, the portfolio returned -15.2% vs. the S&P 500 index’s -17.96%.
Since 2004, the Focus List portfolio has produced an annualized return of +11.33% (through the end of April 2025). This compares to a +9.95% annualized return for the S&P 500 index and +9.17% for the equal-weight version of the index in the same time period.
The portfolio lags the broader market over the preceding year (+10.74% vs. +12.12%), but leads over the preceding 3-year (+47.29% vs. +41.16%), 5-year (+122.94% vs. +106.51%), and 10-year (+225.28% vs. +219.55%) periods.
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 Intuit &
Rollins
Make Significant Gains
Intuit Inc.
INTU, a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), has jumped 22.8% over the past 12 weeks.
Rollins, Inc.
ROL has followed Intuit with 9.3% returns.
The Zacks Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), which consists of 30 concentrated, ultra-defensive, long-term Buy-and-Hold stocks, returned +3.20% in the first quarter of 2025 vs. the S&P 500 index’s -4.30% decline (SPY ETF).
For the year 2024, the portfolio returned +16.26% vs. +24.89% for the S&P 500 index (SPY ETF).
In 2023, the portfolio returned +12.17% vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index. The portfolio returned -4.7% in 2022 vs. the S&P 500 index’s -17.96%.
With little to no turnover and annual rebalance periodicity, 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 Fastenal and Automatic Data Processing Outperform Peers
Fastenal Company
FAST, which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 9.2% over the past 12 weeks. Another ECDP stock,
Automatic Data Processing, Inc.
ADP, has increased 3.3% over the same time frame. Of course, the inclination of investors toward quality dividend stocks to secure an income stream amid heightened market volatility contributed to this performance.
Check Fastenal’s dividend history here>>>
Check Automatic Data Processing'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 to significantly mitigate risk.
The Zacks Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP) returned +5.74% in 2025 Q1 vs. the S&P 500 index’s -2.41% pullback and the Dividend Aristocrats ETF’s (NOBL) +3.11% return.
For the full year 2024, the portfolio returned +6.95% vs. +24.89% for the S&P 500 index and +6.72% for NOBL.
The portfolio returned -0.9% in 2023 vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index and +8.11% for NOBL. The portfolio returned -2.3% in 2022 vs. -17.96% for the S&P 500 index and -8.34% for NOBL.
Click here to access this portfolio on Zacks Advisor Tools.
Zacks Top 10 Stock MasTec Delivers Solid Returns
MasTec, Inc.
MTZ, from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2025, has jumped 14.5% year to date, compared with the S&P 500 index’s 0.6% increase.
The Top 10 portfolio returned -7.88% this year (through the end of April 2025) vs. -4.92% for the S&P 500 index and -2.88% for the equal-weight version of the index.
The Top 10 portfolio returned +62.98% in 2024, vs. +25.04% for the S&P 500 index and +13% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio had returned +25.15% in 2023 vs. +26.28% for the S&P 500 index.
Since 2012, the Top 10 portfolio has produced a cumulative return of +1832.3% through the end of April 2025 vs. +434.2% for the S&P 500 index and +338.6% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average return of +24.3% in the period 2012 through April 30, 2025, vs. +11.6% for the S&P 500 index and +9.58% for the equal-weight version of the index.
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