The ongoing fourth-quarter earnings season has the same old moderate-to-downbeat flavor of the last few quarters. Estimates too have been on a downtrend, replicating the last three years. Total S&P 500 earnings in Q4 are likely to fall 7.8% year over year on 4.7% lower revenues as per the Zacks Earnings Trends issued on January 13.

While earnings normally remain the sole attention of investors, we would like to emphasize that sales also deserve equal attention. This is because; sales are harder to be influenced in an income statement than earnings. A company can land up on decent earnings numbers by adopting cost-cutting or some other measures which do not speak for its core strength. But it is harder for a company to mold its revenue figure.

Plus, the market has been extremely choppy since the beginning of the New Year, thanks to a horrendous equity sell-off in China and its contagion to other risky assets, global growth worries, upheaval in the energy space and speculation over further Fed tightening. It is in such a downbeat backdrop that the Q4 earnings season has commenced this year. In fact, only five of the 16 Zacks sectors are expected to post positive revenue gains from the year-earlier period this season.

Below, we highlight those five sectors and the related ETFs that could be used to book some profits in this volatile market. Each sector has positive revenue growth estimates for Q4 and offers intriguing fundamentals to protect investors’ portfolios in a tottering global investing backdrop. Also, we highlight a stock from each sector which saw strong revenue growth in the last fiscal year, compelling price/sales ratio and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy):

Medical 

iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF (IHI)

Medical or Health Care sector appears the best positioned with an 8.7% revenue growth estimate, the best in the universe of 16 S&P sectors categorized by Zacks. Rise in merger and acquisitions, Affordable Care Act, an aging global population and the sector’s non-cyclical nature amid uncertainty makes the sector a true star.

Though the broader health care sector may not be in a great shape to start 2016, the blow was mainly due to the biotech meltdown. The medical devices area has been less beaten down. Moreover, health care is said to be recession-proof in nature (read: Biotech On the Edge? Try Better-Performing Health Care ETFs).

As a result, medical devices ETFs like IHI may log decent gains ahead. The sector sell-off also made the product fairly valued. The fund has a Zacks ETF Rank #1 (Strong Buy) with a Medium risk outlook.

Lannett Company Inc. (LCI)

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