Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Zacks.com featured highlights include HIS, ANI Pharmaceuticals, Pediatrix Medical, Fresenius Medical Care and LendingTree

Read MoreHide Full Article

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – April 2, 2025 – Stocks in this week’s article are IHS Holding Ltd. (IHS - Free Report) , ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (ANIP - Free Report) , Pediatrix Medical Group (MD - Free Report) , Fresenius Medical Care AG (FMS - Free Report) and LendingTree (TREE - Free Report) .

5 Relative Price Strength Stocks to Navigate Today's Market

The U.S. stock market took a wild ride in the first quarter of 2025, as the S&P 500 notched its biggest quarterly loss in nearly three years. Market sentiment suffered a blow as President Trump's aggressive tariff policies rekindled fears of a global trade war, a powerful dampener on investor sentiment. The index fell 4.6%, ending a five-quarter winning streak and raising fears about economic growth. Concerns about inflation and wild swings in consumer sentiment added to market volatility, prompting analysts to raise recession odds and adjust their projections accordingly.

Despite the challenges, opportunities remain for investors. In a turbulent market like this, stocks demonstrating relative price strength—those that resist broader downturns—can provide stability. This approach highlights resilient companies with strong fundamentals, offering the potential for outperformance as market conditions improve.

At this stage, investors would be wise to consider stocks like IHS Holding Ltd., ANI Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pediatrix Medical Group, Fresenius Medical Care AG and LendingTree based on their relative price strength.

Relative Price Strength Strategy

Investors generally gauge a stock's potential returns by examining earnings growth and valuation multiples. At the same time, it's essential to measure the performance of such a stock relative to its industry or peers or an appropriate benchmark.

If you see that a stock is underperforming on fundamental factors, it would be prudent to move on and find a better alternative. However, those outperforming their respective sectors in terms of price should be selected because they stand a better chance of providing considerable returns.

Then again, it is imperative that you determine whether or not an investment has relevant upside potential when considering stocks with significant relative price strength. Stocks delivering better than the S&P 500 for 1 to 3 months, at least, and having solid fundamentals indicate room for growth and are the best ways to go about this strategy.

Finally, it is crucial to find out whether analysts are optimistic about the upcoming earnings of these companies. In order to do this, we have added positive estimate revisions for the current quarter's (Q1) earnings to our screen. When a stock undergoes an upward revision, it leads to additional price gains.

Here are five of the 10 stocks that made it through the screen:

IHS Holding Limited: Based in London, it is one of the largest independent owners, operators, and developers of shared telecommunications infrastructure globally. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings of IHS Holding indicates 114.7% growth. The company has a VGM Score of A.

Over the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for IHS Holdings 2025 earnings has moved up 30.9%. The company has a market capitalization of $1.8 billion. IHS shares have gone up 50.7% in a year.

ANI Pharmaceuticals: Headquartered in Baudette, MN, this diversified biopharmaceutical company is focused on branded as well as generic prescription drugs. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings for ANIP indicates 22.1% growth. It has a VGM Score of B.

ANI Pharmaceuticals beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 17.3%, on average. ANI Pharmaceuticals shares have declined 1.4% in a year.

Pediatrix Medical Group.: Based in Sunrise, FL, Pediatrix Medical Group provides newborn, maternal-fetal, radiology, pediatric cardiology and other pediatric subspecialties physician services in the United States and Puerto Rico. The company's current market capitalization is $1.2 billion. Pediatrix Medical Group has a VGM Score of A.

Notably, over the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for Pediatrix Medical Group's 2025 earnings has moved up 5.4%. It beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the last four quarters, with the average being 19.4%. MD shares have gone up 47.4% in a year.

Fresenius Medical Care AG: Based in Bad Homburg, Germany, it is one of the largest integrated providers of products and services for individuals undergoing dialysis following chronic kidney failure. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings of Fresenius Medical Care indicates 25.9% growth. It has a VGM Score of B.

Fresenius Medical Care beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the last four quarters and met in the other. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 15.7%, on average. FMS shares have risen 29.1% in a year.

LendingTree: Based in Charlotte, NC, it is an online platform that connects borrowers and lenders. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2025 earnings of LendingTree indicates 22.9% growth. The company has a VGM Score of A.

Over the past 60 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for LendingTree's 2025 earnings has moved up 16.3%. The company has a market capitalization of $688.6 million. LendingTree shares have gone up 19.7% in a year.

You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2438255/5-relative-price-strength-stocks-to-navigate-todays-market

Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.

About Screen of the Week

Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine.  But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.

Follow us on Twitter:  https://www.twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Contact: Jim Giaquinto

Company: Zacks.com

Phone: 312-265-9268

Email: pr@zacks.com

Visit: https://www.zacks.com/

Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Published in