Take the Zacks Approach to Beat the Markets: Intellia, Colgate-Palmolive, Getty in Focus

Market Performance - The three major U.S. stock indexes, the Nasdaq Composite, S&P 500, and Dow Jones Industrial Average, closed the week with gains of 1.5%, 1.1%, and 0.3% respectively [1] - The rally was fueled by improved investor sentiment and strong performance in growth stocks, particularly in technology and communication services [2] Economic Indicators - Moderating inflation data and stable Treasury yields alleviated concerns about aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, leading to broad-based buying in the market [3] Company Performance - Intrepid Potash, Inc. (IPI) saw a 17.7% increase since its upgrade to Zacks Rank 2 (Buy) on December 24, outperforming the S&P 500's 0.2% increase [4] - Getty Realty Corp. (GTY) also experienced a 14.5% return since its upgrade to Zacks Rank 2 on the same date [5] - Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) and Sibanye Stillwater Limited (SBSW) surged 30.9% and 11.9% respectively after being upgraded to Outperform on January 1 [8] Portfolio Performance - A hypothetical equal-weight portfolio of Zacks Rank 1 (Strong Buy) stocks outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 index by 7 percentage points, returning 17.81% compared to 10.85% for the index [5] - The Zacks Focus List portfolio returned 22.1% in 2025, outperforming the S&P 500 index's 17.9% gain [12] - The Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP) returned -1.67% in 2025, underperforming the S&P 500 index [17] Notable Stock Gains - Intellia Therapeutics, Inc. (NTLA) gained 57.2% over 12 weeks, significantly outperforming the S&P 500's 5.6% rise [11] - The Hershey Company (HSY) and Colgate-Palmolive Company (CL) saw returns of 21.4% and 20.6% respectively over the past 12 weeks [16] - Clorox Company (CLX) and Illinois Tool Works Inc. (ITW) returned 23.5% and 22.4% over the same period [20] Long-term Performance - The Top 10 portfolio has produced a cumulative return of 2,616.9% since 2012, compared to 578.2% for the S&P 500 index [26]