5 Stocks Crushing Q3 So Far

While the market has been spinning its wheels this summer, a handful of stocks have quietly kept climbing. And unlike the usual momentum names, these companies are backing it up with earnings beats, raised guidance, and strengthening fundamentals. Today we're breaking down five stocks having an outstanding Q3 so far. The last one is the single highest-rated stock in our entire system right now… so keep reading for that.

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Let's dive in. Our first stock is…

PACS Group

 PACS Group (PACS) is one of the largest operators of skilled nursing and post-acute care facilities in the country. Think of the places people go to recover after a hospital stay. It's about as recession-proof as a business gets… because that demand doesn't care what the market did last week.

And here's why it's exciting right now. America is getting older. The wave of baby boomers hitting the age where they lean on this kind of care is not a maybe… it's a demographic certainty that's already underway. PACS has been buying up and turning around facilities right into that wave.

And the market has noticed. Over the past year, the stock is up nearly 300%… and it's still climbing, up better than 25% in just the past three months. This is a name in motion.

PACS beat expectations in the last two quarters, with earnings per share landing well ahead of estimates.

On top of that, earnings are forecast to grow at more than twice the pace of the industry going forward.

Top analysts on Wall Street are on board too. The consensus here is a Strong Buy recommendation… and AJ Rice of UBS, ranked in the top 8% for his stock-picking track record, has a price target implying roughly 25% upside from here, as of this writing.

Now let's bring in our own quant system. This is the Zen Ratings, where we score every stock across 115 different factors and boil it down to a single grade, A through F, plus 7 component grades underneath. PACS comes in with an overall A… which is equivalent to a Strong Buy recommendation… and it lands in the top 3% of the more than 4,600 stocks we track.

Now let's walk those component grades.

Growth lands in the top 19%. Safety steps up to the top 16%. Momentum … that's price strength … jumps to the top 3%. And the standout… Sentiment, which tracks what the smart money and analysts are doing… the top 1% of all stocks. A couple of grades sit mid-pack … Value and Financials, both in the top third of all stocks, so average-to-solid, not a knock … and the AI grade is right around average. The read: a business riding a demographic tailwind, with the market actively moving into it.

The honest risk? This is a heavily regulated industry, and reimbursement rules can shift. But with the aging-population wave still building, PACS has the wind at its back.

And PACS isn't the only name here quietly riding a megatrend. The next one is a household giant… that has become one of the biggest winners of the entire AI boom.

Dell Technologies

Our next stock is Dell Technologies (DELL).

Yes… that Dell. The company your dad bought a desktop from in 1999. But if that's still how you think of Dell, you've been asleep at the wheel… because Dell has quietly become one of the biggest arms dealers of the AI boom.

Here's the deal. Every one of those AI data centers everybody's talking about needs servers. Racks and racks of specialized, GPU-packed servers.

And Dell has become one of the largest builders of exactly that gear on the planet. That business has a massive $51 billion backlog of orders already signed and waiting to be filled.

Over the past three months, the stock is up about 90%. Look at the 1-year chart, and it's up more than 200%. That is a business the market is waking up to fast. But is the move over? Perhaps not.

Reason 1: It's backed by real numbers. Dell's revenue grew strongly over the past year… and that revenue growth translated into earnings climbing more than twice as fast. That's operating leverage doing its thing.

That's important because when earnings grow more than twice as fast as revenue, it often signals operating leverage kicking in, as more of each new sales dollar falls to the bottom line. Dell has already shown exactly that over the past year.

Wall Street is pounding the table … the consensus is a Strong Buy recommendation… and the most bullish voice on the stock is Medhi Hosseini of Susquehanna, who ranks in the top 1% of all analysts for performance, with a price target that implies an upside of more than 70% compared to current levels.

Our Zen Ratings back the story hard. Dell earns an overall A… equivalent to a Strong Buy recommendation… landing in the top 2% of all 4,600-plus stocks we track.

Let's take a closer look at the fundamentals via the Component Grades.

Financials come in at the top 17%. Growth jumps to the top 2%. And then two grades tie for the standout… Momentum and Sentiment, both in the top 1% of the entire market. When Growth, Momentum, and Sentiment all cluster right at the top like that, it's the model telling you a business is executing and the market knows it. The softer marks are Value and Safety, and we'll be straight with you… after a run like this, Dell isn't cheap anymore, and that middling Value grade reflects it.

The risk worth watching is margins. Dell moves enormous volume, but it earns thinner profits on each server than the chip makers do.

If costs climb faster than Dell can pass them along… that's the pressure point. Still… a recognizable giant, a huge order backlog, and top-tier analysts lined up behind it. Hard to ignore.

And the next name proves you don't have to be a household giant to be crushing it right now.

L.B. Foster

Our 3rd stock is one almost nobody's talking about… and that's exactly why we like it. It's L.B. Foster (FSTR).

L.B. Foster is a 124-year-old company that builds the guts of America's rail and infrastructure systems. Rail track, friction management, the coatings and components that keep freight and transit moving.

Not glamorous… but absolutely essential. And with federal infrastructure money still flowing into rail and transit, and projects that had stalled now restarting, the demand backdrop here is about as good as it's been in years.

The stock has been on a tear. Over the past three months it's up more than 40%… and over the past year it's up better than 90%. Boring on the surface… the chart is anything but.

On top of that, a discounted cash flow model pegs fair value well above where the stock trades today.

And here's the kicker. The company's earnings are forecast to grow at a pace of 39.66% per year … compared to the industry average of just 12%.

But the real reason it's on this list is our data. L.B. Foster earns an overall A… equivalent to a Strong Buy recommendation. The overall fundamentals place it in the top 1% of everything we track.

Let's take a closer look at the Component Grades to see why.

Growth lands in the top 7%. Momentum steps up to the top 6%. And the standout… Sentiment, in the top 2% of all stocks. Price strength and smart-money interest showing up together… usually the sign of an early-discovery story. A cluster of grades sit mid-pack … Value, Safety, and Financials … but Safety and Financials both land in the top quarter of all stocks, which for a small company is respectable, and the AI grade is around average.

The risk is simply size. This is a small company, with a market cap of only $450 million … so the ride can be bumpier than a big blue chip. But with the infrastructure tailwind, the growth prospects, and the smart money interest … it's a name worth getting to know before everyone else does.

Before we get to that final pick, one quick thing. If you want to stay one step ahead of the market, join the Live training every Monday at 7pm Eastern. That is when we share the updated market outlook and trading plan to outperform, plus the Trade of the Week based on our proven Zen Ratings quant model.

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Atlanticus Holdings

Our 4th stock is Atlanticus Holdings (ATLC).

Atlanticus is a financial technology company that powers credit and lending for everyday consumers… often the folks the big banks overlook. They provide the technology and the backing behind credit programs at retailers and healthcare providers. When someone gets financing at the checkout counter… companies like Atlanticus are frequently the engine underneath.

The stock has been climbing right along with the business. Over the past year it's up better than 85%… and better than 30% in just the past three months.

Atlanticus beat expectations in its most recent quarter, with earnings per share up close to 50% from the year before. And a recent acquisition brought on a big new block of accounts to keep that growth engine humming.

Wall Street likes it too. The consensus is a Strong Buy recommendation, with the average price target pointing to an upside of more than 25% from current levels as of this writing.

And our Zen Ratings put it near the very top. Atlanticus earns an overall A… equivalent to a Strong Buy recommendation… with fundamentals in the top 1% of all the stocks we track.

Now let's pop the hood and see what's underneath.

Financials land in the top 14%. Momentum steps up to the top 9%. Growth climbs to the top 5%. And the standout again… Sentiment, in the top 4% of all stocks. Here's the kicker for the bargain hunters, though… its Value grade sits in the top 20%, meaning you're getting all that growth without paying a rich price for it. The AI grade is around average, and Safety runs a bit lower, which brings us to the risk.

That risk here is quite straightforward. Atlanticus lends to everyday consumers, so if the economy weakens and people struggle to pay their bills… a lender like this feels it first. That's the trade-off with a business this plugged into the consumer.

But growth this strong, at a price this reasonable, with the smart money moving in… that's a tough combination to find. Which brings us to the one we've been saving for last.

Bioventus

Our final stock is the highest-rated name of the whole bunch. Here's why it was saved for last: it's Bioventus (BVS).

Bioventus is a medical device company focused on pain relief and healing… things like injections that help arthritic knees, and devices that help broken bones mend faster. Real medicine for real, everyday problems.

The chart tells the story. Over the past year, the stock is up nearly 90%… up better than 20% over the past three months… and it's accelerating, up more than 35% in just the past month.

Here's what really stands out. Bioventus has beaten earnings estimates for 12 quarters in a row. For 3 years, Wall Street has been setting the expectations … and BVS clears them easily.

And the growth is set to keep coming. Bioventus is forecast to grow its earnings meaningfully faster than its medical-device peers.

Wall Street sees more room to run here. The stock has 1 Strong Buy recommendation and 2 Buy recommendations … and the average price target implies an upside of more than 25%.

And now for the reason it was saved for last. It'll be a shock to no one to say this is yet another elite A-rated stock. But Bioventus isn't just any A… it's the single highest-rated stock in our entire system as of this writing. Out of more than 4,600 names. An overall A… equivalent to a Strong Buy recommendation… about as high as this rating goes.

And the component grades are the deepest of the day.

Value in the top 9%. Financials in the top 6%. Safety in the top 5%. Growth in the top 1%. And Sentiment… also right at the very top, in the top 1% of the entire market.

Five separate grades, all stacked near the peak. When a stock stacks up Value, Growth, Safety, and Financials all together like this… you're looking at a rare all-arounder. Strong growth, backed by a fortress balance sheet, at a fair price.

The one honest note… a stock that's run this hard can cool off in the short term while the dust settles. But with the earnings beats piling up, and the best grade profile in our entire system… this is the one we'd put at the top of our own watch list.

Conclusion

So there you have it… 5 stocks with an outstanding Q3 so far. PACS Group riding the aging-population wave. Dell arming the AI boom. L.B. Foster rebuilding America's rails before Wall Street notices. Atlanticus growing fast at a reasonable price. And Bioventus… the single highest-rated stock in our whole system right now.

Remember, the Zen Ratings are updated daily… so you can pull a free rating on over 4,600 stocks yourself just by typing in a ticker at WallStreetZen.com. Be sure to bookmark the site.

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