+76%, +43%, 34% YTD: These AI stock-picking strategies are crushing the market

Investing.com — Big Tech is spending billions to secure its AI future, but Wall Street is becoming increasingly impatient for those investments to deliver results. As investors reassess expensive growth expectations, companies delivering tangible improvements in profitability, cash flow, and shareholder returns are creating huge opportunities for true stock pickers looking beyond the crowd.

Just take a look at some of the ProPicks AI strategies crushing the benchmark indexes this year:

• Energy Elite: +75.53% YTD (+29.28% vs. benchmark)
• Mid-Cap Movers: +43.86% YTD (+33.84% vs. benchmark)
• Small-Cap Sprinters: +33.76% YTD (+22.21% vs. benchmark)
• Dominate the Dow: +21.61% YTD (+11.70% vs. benchmark)

Here are just a few October standouts showing how company-specific catalysts are still driving substantial gains beyond the biggest technology names:

• Kohl’s Corp (NYSE:KSS): +30.97% in Oct alone – slashing retail overhead and driving Sephora foot traffic to turn resilient operational cash flow into an outsized dividend payout.
• Cracker Barrel Old (NASDAQGS:CBRL): +30.62% in Oct alone – revamping its legacy menu and packing dining rooms with price-conscious diners tired of paying inflated fast-casual prices.
• Kyndryl Holdings (NYSE:KD): +25.41% in Oct alone – dumping low-margin legacy contracts and riding the cloud boom to unlock serious enterprise profitability.
• Gartner (NYSE:IT): +21.6% in Oct alone – monetizing corporate AI anxiety by selling non-negotiable tech roadmaps that Fortune 500 executives simply can’t do without.
• Cognizant Tech Solutions (NASDAQGS:CTSH): +21.09% in Oct alone – locking down massive modernization contracts from corporate clients scrambling to overhaul their digital systems.

Among many more!

The October gains are only part of the story. Several longer-term ProPicks AI winners have delivered even larger returns, spanning energy, enterprise software and essential business services:

• Everforth (NYSE:EFOR): +133.49% since picked – running a lean, low-debt operation and capturing high-return opportunities that debt-heavy competitors have to pass up.
• Delek US Holdings (NYSE:DK): +102.07% since picked – capturing wide fuel-refining spreads and funneling strong operational cash flow straight into aggressive share buybacks.
• HF Sinclair (NYSE:DINO): +73.81% since picked – leveraging an expansive downstream footprint to churn out steady payouts that completely ignore broader macro drama.
• Consensus Cloud Solutions (NASDAQGS:CCSI): +73.31% since picked – powering the mission-critical data exchanges hospitals depend on, turning regulatory compliance into high-margin software revenue.
• CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI): +65.13% since picked – tapping dual revenue streams in fuel and fertilizer to shower investors with rich distributions without touching expensive debt.

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How did we get here?

ProPicks AI was built for exactly this — applying investor-grade financial research and machine-learning models to more than 60,000 stocks worldwide to find the companies where fundamentals and growth outlook are pointing to outsized moves before the broader market catches on.

Take Everforth, Inc. (NYSE:EFOR). ProPicks AI caught Everforth trading at a steep discount in July, right before a Q2 blowout delivered over $1.007 billion in revenue, $96.7 million in adjusted EBITDA, and $46.3 million in free cash flow—sending the stock soaring +133.49% higher in just three months.

The strong momentum has continued in the last month, climbing +19.1% after the company secured a three-year contract expansion worth $148 million to continue supporting the Chief Digital and AI Office’s Secure Unclassified Network, building on more than a decade of support for the program.

What our models identified in Everforth before the rally

The ML engine flagged Everforth for an extreme valuation disconnect, deeply embedded public sector AI contracts, and strong cash generation.

Here is what the data showed:

• Deep Value Disconnect: Trading near $18—down ~63% year-to-date and at just 29% of its 52-week high—Everforth sat at an adjusted P/E of ~6x and less than half its book value. With management guiding toward $5.74 in EPS by 2027, the stock trades at roughly 3x forward earnings.
• Robust Cash & Capital Returns: The core platform generated $1.007 billion in quarterly revenue, $96.7 million in adjusted EBITDA, and $46.3 million in free cash flow, while completing a $77.5 million buyback tranche that took over 1.79 million shares off the market.
• High-Value Enterprise & AI Moat: Double-digit growth in commercial consulting bookings—fueled by enterprise software rollouts—complements a resilient defense business anchored by high-stakes public sector wins, including a $115 million U.S. Army AI research contract.
• Substantial Upside Catalysts: Wall Street price targets ($29) and independent fair-value models ($31) point to 65% to 70% potential upside, supported by higher-margin digital engineering from its Quinnox acquisition, Russell 2000 index inclusion, and active insider share purchases.

Likewise, energy giant Delek US Holdings (NYSE:DK). Flagged by our models in March, the stock has more than doubled after crushing Q2 EPS estimates ($5.48 vs. $2.21 expected) on surging refining margins and record logistics output. ProPicks AI members are now positioned ahead of a +102.07% gain after Vice President Vance announced that the Trump administration will use the Cold War-era Defense Production Act to expand the processing capacity of Delek’s Tyler refinery in Texas.

What our models identified in Delek before the rally

The ML engine flagged Delek as a high-conviction pick when the company presented a rare combination of turnaround growth, upside potential, and strong underlying momentum ahead of its explosive breakout.

Here is what the data showed:

• Exceptional Momentum: The stock had already surged ~146% over the past year, including a ~29% gain in the month before selection — momentum backed by real operational improvement rather than sentiment alone.
• Earnings Turnaround: Q4 2025 adjusted EPS of $2.31 crushed the analyst forecast of -$0.07 — a 3,400% beat — while adjusted EBITDA swung from -$15 million to nearly $375 million year-over-year.
• Cost Discipline: The company’s Enterprise Optimization Plan targets at least $200 million in annual savings, while its logistics arm is guiding for $520–$560 million in 2026 earnings.
• Valuation Upside: With analyst price targets averaging ~$40 and some reaching $53, meaningful upside remained even after the stock’s strong run.

Our AI models provide the same detailed rationale for every stock they select or remove, so members know exactly what the data showed at the time.

Across retail, managed healthcare, and semiconductors, the models identified either a strengthening fundamental setup ahead of earnings or a post-results mispricing the market had yet to fully recognise — positioning members for the subsequent re-rating. Our models have been running the same analysis across thousands of global equities for the past month.

Backed by professional-grade financial intelligence, our monthly-updated list of tech picks has absolutely crushed the broader market, posting a +183.18% return since launching in November 2023. That is an incredible +102.25% outperformance over the benchmark S&P 500.

*These are real-world numbers, recorded since the official launch of our AI models in November 2023.

Do not miss the opportunity to review the full list of October picks before the next rotation.

• Already a member? Jump straight to the FULL list of October picks HERE.
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How the AI Stock Picker Works

At the beginning of each month, our proprietary AI system evaluates thousands of global equities using a complex blend of historical data, valuation signals, and forward-looking growth metrics.

By processing more than 15 years of financial data across more than 150 quantitative models, the engine identifies up to 20 high-conviction stocks per strategy based on their projected medium-term upside potential.

Every month, these strategies undergo a strict rebalancing process. New opportunities are added, strong performers are retained, and stocks that no longer meet the criteria are removed.

To consistently track performance, each strategy utilizes equal weighting across all selected stocks. While investors are free to adjust their own allocations, this structure provides a transparent benchmark for evaluating overall model performance.

The objective is to systematically reposition capital toward the strongest opportunities as market conditions evolve.

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