U.S. stock markets have continued their northward journey in 2025 following an impressive rally over the previous two years. In August, all three major stock indexes — the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — advanced 3.2%, 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively.
These three indexes recorded several all-time and closing highs last month, too. No impact of tariff-related concerns on the U.S. economy, weak labor market data and Fed Chairman’s indication of a possible rate cut in September bolstered investors’ sentiment.
At this stage, it will be prudent to invest in stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank that have momentum in September. Five such stocks are: CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. CRWD, Interactive Brokers Group Inc. IBKR, Robinhood Markets Inc. HOOD, Carpenter Technology Corp. CRS and Sportradar Group AG SRAD.
Each of our picks currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and has a Zacks Momentum Score of A or B. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
CrowdStrike Holdings, a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions in the United States and internationally, has been benefiting from the rising demand for cybersecurity solutions and the increasing need for secure networking products amid the growing hybrid working trend.
CRWD reported second-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings per share of $0.93, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.83. Quarterly total revenues were $1.17 billion, outpacing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.15 billion.
CRWD added a record $221 million in net new annual recurring revenues (ARR). This pushed up CrowdStrike’s total ARR to $4.66 billion, representing an increase of 20% from last year, beating the consensus mark of $4.64 billion.
A big part of this growth came from Falcon Flex, CrowdStrike’s subscription model. The company now has over 1,000 Falcon Flex customers, and more than 100 have already signed follow-on “re-Flex” deals before their contracts ended. These re-Flex deals are important because they show customers are expanding faster than expected, often boosting ARR by nearly 50%.
CrowdStrike is widening its focus to secure how enterprises use artificial intelligence (AI). Agentic AI is creating new risks as non-human identities, such as AI agents, have become part of daily business operations that can access systems and data, thereby increasing the need for governance and protection.
CRWD sees this as a major growth opportunity and is focusing on its strategy to secure AI agents, large language models, and generative AI systems. In August 2025, the company announced new steps in this direction.
