3 Growth Stocks That Crushed Earnings

While the first quarter of 2026 was a rough ride, the second quarter has, thus far, been a startling success, geopolitical issues notwithstanding. On the back of a better-than-expected earnings season, coupled with the VIX at its lowest point since mid-January, investors are largely leaning more toward the greed part of the greed/fear spectrum. 

While it isn’t an atmosphere of unabashed optimism, the appetite for risk has returned. Smart money is also quite bullish — last week, Morgan Stanley hiked its S&P 500 target for 2026 to 8,300, a mark that would equate to a roughly 9.7% rally from where we’re currently at, which would bring YTD returns up to approximately 21%, far above the index’s long-term average.

Missing this bullish wave would be leaving money on the table — but most of the obvious trades are long since overcrowded. The optimal approach here is for you to identify high-growth stocks — strong fundamentals, strong price action, but still underappreciated or unknown by the general investing public.

So, how do you parse through everything and separate the wheat from the chaff? Well, the best place to start is by turning to … 

Growth Stock Strategy

Our in-house rating system evaluates 4,600 stocks each day through the lens of 115 unique metrics and factors. This provides a balanced, big-picture overview of a stock’s fundamentals, and it’s all distilled into a simple, intuitive metric — a stock’s Zen Rating.

A Zen Rating of A, equivalent to a Strong Buy recommendation, is only given to the top 5% of stocks. That does narrow the search down, but you’re still left with about 230 stocks to consider on any given day. Thankfully, you can narrow the search down even further — by taking a look at one of our exclusive Zen Strategies.

These are 11 carefully constructed stock portfolios, each consisting of just 7 tickers selected to deliver outsized returns. Today, we’ll be taking a look at one of our top-performing portfolios for May. 

It has an all-time annual return of 30.53%, and it has delivered an 11.74% gain in the past 30 days alone — we’re talking, of course, about our Growth Stock strategy. 

Protagonist Therapeutics (PTGX)

Our first pick, Protagonist Therapeutics, is a $6.5 billion market-cap biopharma company that develops peptide-based treatments for a variety of issues such as blood disorders, autoimmune conditions, and inflammatory diseases. At present, PTGX ranks in the top 2% of the stocks that we track — and it’s the 8th highest-rated stock in the Biotech industry, out of a total of 465.

The Growth Component Grade rating is where the stock shines. Looking at the 22 factors and metrics that make up this rating, PTGX ranks in the top 1%. On top of that, it’s also in the top 7% for Financials and the top 12% for Sentiment, indicating a very healthy balance sheet and significant smart money accumulation.

Protagonist Therapeutics reads as above-average, but not excellent, when it comes to Value and Momentum. The true downside here is a D rating for Safety. PTGX has historically seen a lot of volatility; on the other hand, it has also been in a pretty steady uptrend since late 2023.

The difference-maker when it comes to risk is the stock’s latest quarterly report, from May 05. PTGX delivered $0.05 per share, while analyst forecasts predicted a loss of -$0.50. That’s quite the operational turnaround. Wall Street is more than convinced — since March, the stock has received Buy or Strong Buy ratings with increased price targets from 8 analysts.

Lastly, PTGX is trading at levels comparable to those seen before the earnings beat. It did surge as much as 6% in the aftermath, but profit-taking has brought it down to pre-beat levels. All in all, a hefty discount for a stock that’s more than justified its position in the top 1% for Growth.

Albemarle (ALB)

Next up we have Albemarle, a $20.3 billion market-cap vertically integrated lithium giant. As one of the largest players in the space, ALB is a crucial lynchpin in secular trends such as energy storage and electric vehicles. Right now, ALB ranks in the top 5% of everything we track.

First off, Growth — in this category, ALB, just like our previous pick, ranks in the top 1% overall. But this isn’t a one-trick pony — Albemarle also ranks in the top 8% for Sentiment, as well as the top 14% for Momentum. The average price target for ALB shares currently implies a 23.51% upside, but forecasts go as high as 48.7%. As for Momentum, Albemarle has a 200% rally over the past 365 days to thank.

There’s also another area where ALB shines — and that’s Artificial Intelligence. Here, it ranks in the top 14%. This means that our in-house neural network, trained on more than 20 years of market data, has singled it out as a likely outperformer.

So, what about the less stellar Component Grades? Financials, at top 22%, read as decent — and Value, where the stock is right in the middle (the 50th percentile) is just plain average. The one real area of concern is Safety, where ALB is in the bottom 22%. This is a reflection of the fact that it is, like any business with a lot of exposure to commodities, inherently cyclical.

There is a reason as to why it’s on the list — and it’s because the potential benefits seem to outweigh the risks. On May 6, ALB reported earnings — and delivered an EPS of $2.95, while analysts were calling for $1.19. With a top 1% placement for Growth, a strong earnings beat in tow, a bullish panel of analysts, and a high ranking from our neural network, there are simply too many signals to ignore.

CareDx (CDNA)

Last, but certainly not least, we have CareDx, a $1.1 billion market-cap medical diagnostics company. CDNA shares currently rank in the top 4% of all the equities that we track, and they’re the top-ranked equity in the Diagnostic & Research industry.

Like our previous picks, CDNA also ranks in the top 1% of stocks when it comes to the Growth Component Grade rating. However, the overall profile is a bit different compared to our other picks. CareDx also boasts a placement in the top 9% for Financials, and the top 23% for Value.

As far as red flags go, there aren’t any. In all other instances, the stock reads as slightly above or below average. Put together, that makes for a pretty strong fundamental profile on the whole. Analyst coverage, while thin, is positive — after the latest earnings report, BTIG’s Mark Massaro (who ranks in the top 2% of analysts in terms of actual stock picking performance) maintained a Strong Buy rating and set a price target that implies a 26.3% upside for CDNA.

Just like the previous 2 stocks we covered, CareDx recently delivered a monster earnings beat — on April 28, to be precise. Analysts were expecting EPS of $0.13, while CDNA delivered $0.34. Since then, the stock has only gained 2.78%. All in all, strong growth metrics, a solid balance sheet, and a reasonable valuation.

Interested In More Great Stock Picks? 

The 3 stocks highlighted above are just a fraction of what you get from our proven Growth Stock strategy.

That’s because each day our system recalibrates — and Zen Strategies members get access to the top 7 technology stocks based on 115 different parameters that point to outperformance. 

See all Top 7 Growth Stocks here >

However, maybe growth stocks aren’t what you’re after right now. Perhaps you would like to see all 11 of our market-beating strategies including Buy the Dip, Momentum, Value, and our coveted AI Factor model. 

Each featuring the top 7 stocks.

Each featuring tremendous performance

We spell it all out in this timely presentation below that lives up to its name:

10 Minutes a Month to Beat the Market > 

What to Do Next?

• 77 Best Stocks NOW! >
• Options Trading with the Zen Ratings >
• 2 New Stocks to Buy from Steve Reitmeister >

Want to get in touch? Email us at news@wallstreetzen.com.