Zacks Investment Management

Mitch Zacks serves as CEO and senior portfolio manager, directing investment strategy and portfolio construction since 1997. He holds a PhD in finance and is the son of Zacks Investment Research founder Leonard Zacks. Ben Zacks also serves as a portfolio manager on the team, representing the second generation of family operational involvement. No external CIO or investment committee beyond these named principals is publicly identified.

Zacks Investment Management is the registered investment advisor arm of the broader Zacks organization. Zacks Investment Research, founded by Leonard Zacks in 1978, produces the quantitative earnings estimates and Zacks Rank used by both retail subscribers and the management affiliate. The two entities operate under common ownership but are legally distinct, with the management company functioning as a fiduciary and the research arm as a data and ratings publisher.

The Zacks Rank is a proprietary scoring system that ranks stocks from one (Strong Buy) to five (Strong Sell) based on changes in analyst earnings estimates and earnings surprises. Zacks Investment Management tilts its equity separate accounts toward highly ranked names, overweighting stocks with rising earnings momentum. Portfolio managers apply a discretionary overlay for sector concentration limits, liquidity, and tax-loss harvesting, meaning the final book is not a mechanical replication of the top-ranked quintile.

No, the firm's publicly stated strategies are limited to publicly traded US equities and fixed income. Its product set includes large-cap equity, dividend equity, municipal bonds, and other taxable bond strategies — all liquid, transparent asset classes. It does not operate venture, private equity, real estate, or hedge fund vehicles, nor does it function as a multi-asset allocator. This makes it closer to an SMA-focused wealth manager than a family-office-style alternative investor.

In November 2023, the SEC charged Zacks Investment Management with failing to disclose that its affiliated broker-dealer, Zacks Trade, received revenue-sharing payments when advisory clients executed trades through the affiliate. The firm paid a $120,000 civil penalty and agreed to retain an independent compliance consultant. The settlement addressed disclosure, not investment performance, and the firm remains SEC-registered and operational as of the latest filing.

The firm does not offer co-investment programs or club-deal structures because it does not operate in private markets. Its structure as a manager of individual separate accounts means each client portfolio is custom-built and trade-advisory processes are bilateral between manager and client. There are no pooled, commingled LP vehicles, so the classic co-investment question does not map onto their product architecture.

The firm serves high-net-worth individuals, family trusts, retirement plans, and smaller institutional investors, largely concentrated in the Midwest, Chicago, and Florida retirement markets. Minimum account sizes are not prominently published but given the separate-account structure, the advisory relationship often functions as a core-equity mandate alongside a client's broader financial-advisor-led allocation. The firm's value proposition is direct access to the Zacks quantitative signal in a managed, fiduciary account.