Despite a long history of investment research and management, Zacks Investment Management’s organizational shortcomings result in a Below Average Parent rating.
This Chicago-based firm, owned and operated by the Zacks family, opened in 1992 as a subsidiary of Zacks Investment Research. ZIR was founded on proprietary research related to earnings revisions, and it puts that research into practice. According to the firm, it managed or advised USD 23 billion across roughly 40 quantitative strategies as of June 2025, mostly in separately managed accounts. These offerings span equities, multi-asset, fixed income, and commodities, though equities represent the vast majority of the business.
Resources could be expanded to reduce key-person risk and shore up the firm's strategies. Zacks Investment Management doesn’t have a dedicated CIO; rather, Mitch Zacks serves as both CEO and senior portfolio manager, and he has significant decision-making responsibility for nearly all investment strategies in addition to his executive duties. A roughly 15-person investment team is adequate for conducting research, managing the firm's quantitative models, and running equity portfolios, but resources in product development or in niches like fixed-income or multi-asset investing and independent risk oversight are lacking.
The firm’s approach to manager compensation also falls short of industry standards. Manager pay is not tied to performance, nor are managers permitted to invest in their own products. Zacks believes these policies help maintain managers’ objectivity, but manager ownership supports alignment with fundholders, and tying compensation to performance improves accountability. Fees—particularly on the firm’s mutual funds—are also above average or high relative to peers.
Note: This share class' Parent Pillar rating is analyst-driven, as its Branding Name, Zacks (Branding Name ID: BN00000AE8), is covered by Morningstar Manager Research.
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