Take the Zacks Approach to Beat the Markets: Shopify, Enerflex, The Greenbrier in Focus

Market Overview - The Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.96%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased by 1.29%, and the S&P 500 remained unchanged, amid concerns over the U.S.-China trade war and mixed economic data [1] - The consumer price index (CPI) rose by 0.3%, marking the largest increase in seven months, while the producer price index (PPI) increased by 3% compared to a 2.6% rise in October, indicating persistent inflation challenges against the U.S. central bank's 2% target [2] Investment Performance - Enerflex Ltd. shares gained 45.4% since being upgraded to Zacks Rank 2 (Buy) on October 17, outperforming the S&P 500's 3.8% increase [4] - Snap-on Incorporated returned 8.3% since its upgrade to Zacks Rank 2 on October 18, also surpassing the S&P 500's performance [4] - Peapack-Gladstone Financial Corporation and The Greenbrier Companies, Inc. advanced 13.4% and 12.6% respectively since their upgrades to Outperform on October 24 and 25 [10] Zacks Rank and Recommendations - The Zacks Rank system, focused on earnings estimate revisions, has shown a strong correlation with near-term stock price movements, with a hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank 1 stocks returning +21.6% year-to-date through November 4, 2024 [5] - The Zacks Model Portfolio of Rank 1 stocks has outperformed the S&P 500 index by almost 13 percentage points since 1988, with an annualized average return of +24.1% [7] Focus List and Other Portfolios - The Zacks Focus List portfolio returned +31.44% in 2023, outperforming the S&P 500 index's +26.28% return [14] - Walmart Inc. and Fiserv, Inc. saw significant gains of 17% and 16.7% respectively over the past 12 weeks, as part of the Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP) [16] - The Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP) returned +15.55% year-to-date through November 30, 2024, compared to the S&P 500 index's +28.1% return [21] Top Performing Stocks - Stride, Inc. from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2024 has surged 78.9% year-to-date, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 index's +27.1% increase [23] - The Top 10 portfolio has produced a cumulative return of +2,112.57% since 2012, compared to +475.56% for the S&P 500 index [24]