Take the Zacks Approach to Beat the Markets: StoneCo, Axon, Intuit in Focus

Market Overview - The three major U.S. indexes ended the holiday-shortened trading week in the red, with the Nasdaq Composite declining by 0.44%, and both the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average losing 0.17% each, attributed to renewed trade tensions with the European Union and China [1] - The Federal Reserve's May meeting minutes indicate that new foreign trade tariff policies could lead to persistent inflation, hinder economic growth, and diminish global confidence in U.S. assets [2] Economic Indicators - The second estimate of Q1 2025 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) showed a contraction at an annual rate of 0.2%, an improvement from the initial estimate of a 0.3% decline, marking the first drop in three years [2] - The labor market remains resilient but shows slight signs of weakening, with jobless aid rising to 240,000 for the week ending May 24th, and Continuing Jobless Claims increasing to 1.92 million [2] Stock Performance - Banco Comercial Português (BPCGY) shares gained 13.9% since being upgraded to Zacks Rank 2 (Buy) on March 31, outperforming the S&P 500's 6.1% increase [3] - PDS Biotechnology Corporation (PDSB) also saw a return of 9.5% since its upgrade to Zacks Rank 2 on March 31 [4] - A hypothetical portfolio of Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy) stocks returned -8.32% in 2025 (through May 5), compared to -5.35% for the S&P 500 index [4] Zacks Recommendations - StoneCo Ltd. (STNE) and BlackBerry Limited (BB) advanced 30.9% and 26.1% respectively since their Zacks Recommendation upgrades to Outperform on April 9 and March 4 [7] - The Zacks Focus List portfolio has returned -3.23% through April 30, 2025, compared to -4.92% for the S&P 500 index [11] - The Zacks Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP) returned +3.20% in Q1 2025, outperforming the S&P 500 index's -4.30% decline [15] Long-term Performance - The Zacks Focus List portfolio has produced an annualized return of +11.33% since 2004, compared to +9.95% for the S&P 500 index [13] - The Top 10 portfolio has delivered a cumulative return of +1832.3% since 2012, significantly outperforming the S&P 500 index's +434.2% return [23]