+78%, +75%: Fresh upgrades fuel these AI-picked energy plays ahead of earnings

Investing.com — Buzz surrounding the Anthropic IPO briefly lifted the AI trade, but market focus has quickly shifted as five of the Magnificent Seven prepare to report earnings this week. With mega-cap momentum tempering, capital is rotating into high-quality, under-the-radar names delivering proven value.

Readers of this column know retailers Cracker Barrel Old (NASDAQGS:CBRL) up +33.59%, and Kohl’s Corp (NYSE:KSS) up +25.00% have been surging this month following earnings blowouts. But it is a couple of high-conviction energy plays that continue to add to enormous multi-month rallies over +75% since they were first picked, as Wall St gets excited by analyst upgrades rolling in ahead of upcoming earnings releases.

With October drawing to a close, the clock is already ticking on the next rotation. Next Monday, ProPicks AI will release its brand-new, freshly updated list of stock picks for November — which you can access for a massive 55% for a strictly limited time. 

But before the models rebalance, here are just a few of the dozens of big wins premium members have been positioned ahead of this month: 

• Cracker Barrel Old (NASDAQGS:CBRL): +33.59% in Oct alone
• Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT): +25.66% in Oct alone
• Kohl’s Corp (NYSE:KSS): +25.00% in Oct alone
• Kyndryl Holdings (NYSE:KD): +21.12% in Oct alone
• Cboe Global (BATS:CBOE): +20.95% in Oct alone

Among more than 45 double-digit winners!

But the gains don’t stop with this month. Here are just some of the longer-term rallies members are still riding since their stocks were first selected:

• Everforth (NYSE:EFOR): +148.23% since picked
• Delek US Holdings (NYSE:DK): +98.39% since picked
• Consensus Cloud Solutions (NASDAQGS:CCSI): +75.42% since picked

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So which high-conviction energy plays keep climbing ahead of earnings?

After adding another +14% in October alone, CVR Energy (NYSE:CVI) has delivered an enormous +74.69% rally in less than three months. Market anticipation is peaking ahead of its upcoming Q3 earnings report, where analysts project an explosive ~590% year-over-year EPS leap to $2.76. That bullish momentum is shared by Goldman Sachs, UBS, and Mizuho who all recently lifted their price targets, Moody’s upgraded the company’s credit rating to B1, and insiders have purchased $16.4 million in stock over the past year.

Our machine learning engine flagged CVR in August for its rare combination of upward price momentum, rock-bottom valuation, and explosive cash generation.

Here is what caught the ML engine’s eye before the move:

• Deep Value Relative to Growth: Despite rallying ~40% year-to-date at the time, the stock traded at a ridiculously low PEG ratio of just 0.43—signaling that Wall Street was severely underpricing its accelerating earnings trajectory.
• Explosive Top-Line & Cash Generation: Quarterly revenue surged ~55% year-over-year to $2.74 billion, driving a massive EBITDA recovery and generating an impressive $264 million in free cash flow in just three months.
• Near-Peak Operational Efficiency: The core business was executing virtually at ceiling capacity, highlighted by its petroleum refineries running at 98% utilization and its fertilizer segment reaching 99%.
• Durable Multi-Year Tailwinds: Rather than a short-lived pop, management forecasted above-average refining and fertilizer industry conditions to persist well into 2027.

Likewise, HF Sinclair (NYSE:DINO) was selected in June and has gone on to deliver a massive +77.98% rally in under five months. The refiner continues to see heavy institutional interest ahead of its next earnings release, backed by a recent blowout quarter featuring $10.39 billion in revenue, an adjusted EBITDA more than doubling to $1.48 billion, and $1.5 billion generated in net cash from operations. Wall Street is taking note with Piper Sandler recently initiated coverage with an "Overweight" rating, while Goldman Sachs reiterated a "Buy" and raised its price target to $142.

HF Sinclair was flagged by our ML engine for its standout combination of explosive earnings growth, strong cash generation, and low relative valuation.

Here is what the data showed before the move:

• Blowout Earnings & EBITDA Surge: A Q1 EPS of $0.69 crushed analyst forecasts of $0.07 by nearly 900%, backed by a 112% year-over-year surge in Q1 adjusted EBITDA and a dramatic swing in its renewables segment to $133 million in profit as biofuel mandates boosted RIN prices.
• Compelling Deep Value: Trading at roughly 11x earnings relative to its long-term earnings power, the refiner offered an unusually attractive entry price alongside an upside Fair Value target toward $81.
• Robust Cash Flows & Capital Return: Strong refining margins and lubricants demand enabled management to raise its regular quarterly dividend and expand share repurchases, supported by full-year EPS guidance of $5.64 and a ~2.9% yield at entry.

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, industrials, and energy, 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 +189.77% return since launching in November 2023. That is an incredible +108.53% outperformance over the benchmark S&P 500.

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

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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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