We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
You are being directed to ZacksTrade, a division of LBMZ Securities and licensed broker-dealer. ZacksTrade and Zacks.com are separate companies. The web link between the two companies is not a solicitation or offer to invest in a particular security or type of security. ZacksTrade does not endorse or adopt any particular investment strategy, any analyst opinion/rating/report or any approach to evaluating individual securities.
If you wish to go to ZacksTrade, click OK. If you do not, click Cancel.
Find Strong Stocks During Earnings Season with this First Profit Screener
Read MoreHide Full Article
The Dow climbed to a record on Tuesday, while both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 touched new highs before pulling back slightly during regular trading. All three major U.S. indexes have continued to break new ground in February after stocks quickly recovered from their late-January pullback, with the S&P now up over 6% since January 29.
Bullish investors have pushed stocks to new highs as the Fed recommits to its low interest rate policy. Wall Street has also grown more convinced about the possibility of increased government spending as some of the hardest-hit areas of the economy continue to struggle.
Despite some setbacks, vaccine distribution rolls on and it will hopefully help people in the U.S. and around the world return to something closer to normal by late summer, if not sooner. Plus, the fourth quarter earnings season has been rather impressive and executives continue to provide upbeat guidance (also read: Earnings Estimates Keep Going Up).
With this backdrop in mind, let’s utilize our ‘First Profit’ screen to help find stocks that might be worth buying…
First Profit
The idea is to search for companies that recently reported their first quarterly profit. More specifically, the screen searches for firms that just posted their first profit last quarter, after not posting a profit for at least the previous four quarters.
Finding companies that recently reported their first profits help investors find stocks that can prove to be big winners. These companies may vary widely. Some of the firms might be new, and this recent profit is perhaps the only profit in its short history.
Meanwhile, other companies might have held an impressive and long history of quarterly profitability, but for whatever reason haven't seen a profit in a while. Therefore, the return to profit could spark a turning point that management had promised or Wall Street had been clamoring for.
The concept is relatively simple: if the trend has been one of improvement, there is a solid chance the trend will continue. This is true whether a company has been profitable, or is just reaching that key inflection point.
And that’s what we are screening for today…
• EPS for the previous 4 Quarters less than or equal to 0
(This means in each of the previous 4 quarters (except the most recently reported quarter) the company has reported earnings of less than or equal to zero, i.e., no profit.)
• EPS for the recently reported quarter greater than 0
(This time, the company reported earnings greater than zero, meaning they finally showed a profit.)
• Current Price greater than or equal to 5
(Stocks that are trading for less than $5 are more speculative.)
The screen is pretty simple, yet powerful. Here are 3 of the nearly 60 stocks that made it through this week's screen…
Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start looking for the newest companies that fit these criteria. It's easy to do. And it could help you find your next big winner. Start screening for these companies today with a free trial to the Research Wizard. You can do it.
Want more articles from this author? Scroll up to the top of this article and click the FOLLOW AUTHOR button to get an email each time a new article is published.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Now would you like to screen for the latest stocks from Zacks' most successful strategies? From 2017 through Q2 2020, while the market gained +44.0%, we saw results like these: Big Money Zacks +93.8%, Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis +122.2%, New Highs +153.0%, and Filtered Zacks Rank5 +156.8%.
You're invited to screen the latest stocks in seconds by trying Zacks' Research Wizard stock-picking program. Or use the Wizard to create your own market-beating strategies. No credit card needed, no cost or obligation.
Image: Bigstock
Find Strong Stocks During Earnings Season with this First Profit Screener
The Dow climbed to a record on Tuesday, while both the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 touched new highs before pulling back slightly during regular trading. All three major U.S. indexes have continued to break new ground in February after stocks quickly recovered from their late-January pullback, with the S&P now up over 6% since January 29.
Bullish investors have pushed stocks to new highs as the Fed recommits to its low interest rate policy. Wall Street has also grown more convinced about the possibility of increased government spending as some of the hardest-hit areas of the economy continue to struggle.
Despite some setbacks, vaccine distribution rolls on and it will hopefully help people in the U.S. and around the world return to something closer to normal by late summer, if not sooner. Plus, the fourth quarter earnings season has been rather impressive and executives continue to provide upbeat guidance (also read: Earnings Estimates Keep Going Up).
With this backdrop in mind, let’s utilize our ‘First Profit’ screen to help find stocks that might be worth buying…
First Profit
The idea is to search for companies that recently reported their first quarterly profit. More specifically, the screen searches for firms that just posted their first profit last quarter, after not posting a profit for at least the previous four quarters.
Finding companies that recently reported their first profits help investors find stocks that can prove to be big winners. These companies may vary widely. Some of the firms might be new, and this recent profit is perhaps the only profit in its short history.
Meanwhile, other companies might have held an impressive and long history of quarterly profitability, but for whatever reason haven't seen a profit in a while. Therefore, the return to profit could spark a turning point that management had promised or Wall Street had been clamoring for.
The concept is relatively simple: if the trend has been one of improvement, there is a solid chance the trend will continue. This is true whether a company has been profitable, or is just reaching that key inflection point.
And that’s what we are screening for today…
• EPS for the previous 4 Quarters less than or equal to 0
(This means in each of the previous 4 quarters (except the most recently reported quarter) the company has reported earnings of less than or equal to zero, i.e., no profit.)
• EPS for the recently reported quarter greater than 0
(This time, the company reported earnings greater than zero, meaning they finally showed a profit.)
• Current Price greater than or equal to 5
(Stocks that are trading for less than $5 are more speculative.)
The screen is pretty simple, yet powerful. Here are 3 of the nearly 60 stocks that made it through this week's screen…
Pinterest, Inc. (PINS - Free Report)
Cloudera, Inc.
Alcoa Corp. (AA - Free Report)
Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start looking for the newest companies that fit these criteria. It's easy to do. And it could help you find your next big winner. Start screening for these companies today with a free trial to the Research Wizard. You can do it.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
Want more articles from this author? Scroll up to the top of this article and click the FOLLOW AUTHOR button to get an email each time a new article is published.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and/or employees of Zacks Investment Research may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material. An affiliated investment advisory firm may own or have sold short securities and/or hold long and/or short positions in options that are mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies are available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance/.
Today's Stocks from Zacks' Best Screens
Now would you like to screen for the latest stocks from Zacks' most successful strategies? From 2017 through Q2 2020, while the market gained +44.0%, we saw results like these: Big Money Zacks +93.8%, Technical Analysis and Fundamental Analysis +122.2%, New Highs +153.0%, and Filtered Zacks Rank5 +156.8%.
You're invited to screen the latest stocks in seconds by trying Zacks' Research Wizard stock-picking program. Or use the Wizard to create your own market-beating strategies. No credit card needed, no cost or obligation.
Try it for 2 weeks free >>