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Zacks.com featured highlights Direct Digital, Manitex, InterDigital, RCM Technologies and Barrett Business Services

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – November 30, 2023 – Stocks in this week’s article are Direct Digital Holdings Inc. (DRCT - Free Report) , Manitex International Inc. (MNTX - Free Report) , InterDigital Inc. (IDCC - Free Report) , RCM Technologies Inc. (RCMT - Free Report) and Barrett Business Services Inc. (BBSI - Free Report) .

5 Stocks with Recent Price Strength to Enhance Your Portfolio

Wall Street has seen an impressive bull run in 2023 after a highly disappointing 2022. Year to date, the three major stock indexes — the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — have advanced 6.6%, 18.5% and 38.1%, respectively.

U.S. stock markets have regained momentum in November after three consecutive months of decline. Investors are more confident these days as a large section of market participants are expecting the Fed to be already through with its ongoing interest rate hike cycle. The CME FedWatch tool currently shows a 97% probability that the central bank will keep the Fed Fund rate unchanged at the existing level of 5.25-5.5%.

As a result, investors are less worried about a recession in 2024 and more confident that the Fed will opt for the first rate cut after two years in the first half of 2024. Several weak economic data and a gradually dwindling inflation rate support this view. As the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong, this may enable the path for the much-hyped soft-landing by the Fed, triggering a year-end rally.

Despite the recent rally, a handful of stocks have shown price strength. We have selected five stocks likely to gain in the near term on the back of a favorable Zacks Rank. These companies are — Direct Digital Holdings Inc., Manitex International Inc., InterDigital Inc., RCM Technologies Inc. and Barrett Business Services Inc.

Here’s How We Arrived at the Picks

We have primarily targeted stocks that have freshly been on a bull run. Stocks seeing price strength recently have a high chance of carrying the momentum forward.

If a stock is continuously witnessing an uptrend, there must be a solid reason or it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.

However, recent price strength alone cannot create magic. Therefore, other relevant parameters are needed to create a successful investment strategy.

Here’s how you should create the screen to shortlist the current as well as the potential winners.

Let’s discuss five out of those 15 stocks:

Direct Digital provides advertising and marketing technology. DRCT’s supply-side platform Colossus SSP offers advertisers of all sizes extensive reach within the general market and multicultural media properties. DRCT’s operating companies Huddled Masses and Orange142 deliver significant ROI for middle-market advertisers by providing data-optimized programmatic solutions.

The stock price of Direct Digital has soared 403.6% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved more than 100% over the last 30 days.

Manitex International provides engineered lifting solutions in the United States, Italy, Canada, France, Chile, and internationally. MNTX designs, manufactures, and distributes products that are used in various industries.

MNTX also offers boom trucks, truck cranes, and sign cranes primarily for use in industrial projects, energy exploration, and infrastructure development comprising roads, bridges, and commercial construction; and truck-mounted aerial platforms.

The stock price of Manitex International has jumped 58.3% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 72% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings improved 19.4% over the last 30 days.

Interdigital is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies enabling wireless communications and capabilities. IDCC is engaged in designing and developing a wide range of advanced technology solutions, which are used in digital cellular as well as wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks.

Furthermore, IDCC’s team of skilled engineers has expertise in major mobile connectivity as well as in technologies related to content delivery. Notably, InterDigital’s secure and scalable horizontal platform, oneMPOWER, enables businesses to launch and manage Internet of Things applications.

The stock price of Interdigital has climbed 33.7% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 8.6% over the last 30 days.

RCM Technologies is a national provider of Business, Technology and resource solutions in information technology and professional engineering to customers in corporate and government sectors.

RCMT has grown its information technology competencies in the areas of resource augmentation, e-business, Enterprise Resource Planning support, network and infrastructure support and knowledge management. RCMT's engineering expertise is in the form of technical design, field engineering, field support, procedures development and project and program management.

The stock price of RCM Technologies has surged 32% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 1.1% over the last 30 days.

Barrett Business Services provides light industrial, clerical and technical employees to a wide range of businesses through staff leasing, contract staffing, site management and temporary staffing arrangements. BBSI provides employees to a diverse set of customers, including among others, forest products and agriculture-based companies, electronics manufacturers, transportation and shipping enterprises, professional firms and general contractors.

The stock price of BBSI has rallied 21.8% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.6% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 4.7% over the last 30 days.

You can get the rest of the stocks on this list by signing up now for your 2-week free trial to the Research Wizard and start using this screen in your own trading. Further, you can also create your own strategies and test them first before taking the investment plunge.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2190677/5-stocks-with-recent-price-strength-to-enhance-your-portfolio

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.

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Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance  for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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