Beat the Market the Zacks Way: FirstEnergy, Seanergy Maritime, Amgen in Focus

Zacks 2026.04.13 12:44 (GMT)

Beat the Market the Zacks Way: FirstEnergy, Seanergy Maritime, Amgen in Focus

Wall Street recorded a strong performance last week, with benchmark indexes like the Nasdaq Composite, the S&P 500, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 4.1%, 3.1% and 2.7%, respectively. Last week's gains were largely supported by easing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. Oil prices, which had been highly volatile, declined sharply midweek before stabilizing, further boosting market sentiment. Economic data also came in mixed, with inflation readings broadly in line with expectations, consumer sentiment weakened, and GDP growth for late 2025 revised lower.

The headline Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 0.9% in March, pushing the year-over-year inflation rate to 3.3%. This jump was mostly fueled by a 10.9% spike in energy prices linked to the conflict. However, core CPI remained stable with a 0.2% monthly increase. Consumer confidence struggled, with the University of Michigan sentiment index plunging to a historic low of 47.6% in April. U.S. economic growth slowed more than previously estimated in the fourth quarter, according to the report published by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. The gross domestic product rate was estimated to have increased at a downwardly ‌revised 0.5% annualized rate. Currently, markets are more sensitive to geopolitical developments than to mixed economic fundamentals.

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:

Telefônica Brasil and FirstEnergy Following Zacks Rank Upgrade

Shares of Telefônica Brasil S.A. VIV have gained 14.9% (versus the S&P 500’s 1.6% decrease) since it was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) on Feb. 9.

Another stock, FirstEnergy Corp. FE, which was upgraded to a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) on Feb. 9, has returned 10.3% (versus the S&P 500’s 1.6% decrease) 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.

An equal-weight portfolio of Zacks Rank # 1 stocks outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 index by 7.7 percentage points in the year-to-date 2026 period (through March 3, 2026); The Zacks Rank #1 stocks returned +6.57% through March 3^, while the equal-weight S&P 500 index lost -1.14% of its value.

In 2025, this hypothetical equal-weight portfolio returned +17.81% vs. +10.85% for the index, while performance comparison was +22.4% vs. +13.7% in 2024. Over the preceding 10-year period (2016 through 2025), this portfolio of qual-weight Zacks Rank #1 stocks outperformed the equal-weight S&P 500 index by more than 7 percentage points (+18.55% vs. +11.65%).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here >>>

Check Telefônica Brasil’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>

Check FirstEnergy’s historical EPS and Sales here>>>

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Zacks Recommendation Upgrades Seanergy Maritime and Roku

Shares of Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp SHIP and Roku, Inc. ROKU have advanced 29.8% (versus the S&P 500’s 1.8% decrease) and 15.8% (versus the S&P 500’s 2.1% decrease) since their Zacks Recommendation was upgraded to Outperform on Feb. 11 and Feb. 10, 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.

Zacks Focus List Stocks Virtu Financial, Cheniere Energy Shoot Up

Shares of Virtu Financial, Inc. VIRT, which belongs to the Zacks Focus List, have gained 42.7% over the past 12 weeks. The stock was added to the Focus List on July 31, 2023. Another Focus-List holding, Cheniere Energy, Inc. LNG, which was added to the portfolio on Sept. 6, 2022, has returned 37.1% over the past 12 weeks. The S&P 500 has declined 2% over this period.

The 50-stock Focus List portfolio returned +6.65% in 2026 (through February 28) vs. +0.68% for the S&P 500 index and +7.06% for the equal-weight version of the index.

The portfolio returned +22.1% in 2025 vs. +17.9% for the S&P 500 index and +11.4% for the equal-weight version of the index.

The 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%.

Through February 28, 2026, the portfolio’s rolling returns on a one-year, three-year, five-year, ten-year, and since 2004 have been +29.35% (vs. +17% for the S&P 500 index), +23.13% (vs. +21.81%), +14.15% (vs. +14.19%), +16.79% (vs. +15.50%) and +12.38% vs. (+10.66%), respectively.

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 Church & Dwight and Amgen Make Significant Gains

Church & Dwight Co., Inc. CHD, a component of our Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), has jumped 8.5% over the past 12 weeks. Amgen Inc. AMGN has followed Church & Dwight with 8.2% returns.

The Zacks Earnings Certain Admiral Portfolio (ECAP), which consists of 30 concentrated, ultra-defensive, long-term Buy-and-Hold stocks, returned -2.3% in the fourth quarter of 2025 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +2.7% gain (SPY ETF). For 2025 as a whole, the portfolio returned -1.67% vs. +17.9% gain for the S&P 500 index.

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 Johnson & Johnson Outperform Peers

Fastenal Company FAST, which is part of our Earnings Certain Dividend Portfolio (ECDP), has returned 15.9% over the past 12 weeks. Another ECDP stock, Johnson & Johnson JNJ, has also climbed 11.6% 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 Johnson & Johnson'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 -2.1% in 2025 Q4 vs. the S&P 500 index’s +2.7% gain and the Dividend Aristocrats ETF’s (NOBL) +1.6% return. For 2025, the portfolio returned -0.6% vs. +6.8% gain for the Dividend Aristocrat ETF.

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 Monolithic Power Systems Delivers Solid Returns

Monolithic Power Systems, Inc. MPWR, from the Zacks Top 10 Stocks for 2026, has jumped 44.6% since the list was released on Jan. 5, 2026, compared with the S&P 500 index’s 0.5% decrease during this period.

The Top 10 portfolio retuned +10.5% in 2026 (through February 28) vs. +0.5% for the S&P 500 index and +6.3% for the equal-weight version of the index.

The Top 10 portfolio returned +22.6% in 2025 vs. +17.9% for the S&P 500 index and +11.4% 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.

Through the end of February 2026, the Top 10 portfolio has produced a cumulative return of +2,761.6% since 2012 vs. +564.8% for the S&P 500 index and +435% for the equal-weight version of the index. The portfolio has produced an average annual return of +26.4% in the period 2012 through February 28, 2026 vs. +13% for the S&P 500 index and +11% for the equal-weight version of the index.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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