U.S. stock markets have maintained their northward journey in 2024 after an astonishing rally in 2023. The bull run has gained further thrust as major stock indexes have posted multiple all-time highs on both intraday and closing basis so far this year. Year to date, the three major stock indexes — the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — have advanced 2.8%, 14.8% and 20.9%. However, the major driver of last year's and this year's rally was globally booming artificial intelligence, especially generative AI. Companies that have extensive application of AI in their final products have become multi-baggers in the past 18 months. Stock prices of some of these companies have skyrocketed 200-300% during this period. Meanwhile, market participants have other sectors to look into. Several old economy stocks from sectors such as industrials, finance, auto, materials and consumer defensive have popped year to date. Investing in these untapped stocks with a favorable Zacks Rank should lead to profits. These old economy stocks have transformed the ongoing rally into a broad-based one with huge opportunities for portfolio diversification.   Our Top Picks We have narrowed our search to five old economy stocks that have provided more returns than the market's benchmark — the S&P 500 Index — year to date, and have further upside left. These stocks have seen positive earnings estimate revisions in the last 60 days. Each of our picks carries either a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy). The chart below shows the price performance of our five picks year to date.