Back to top

Image: Bigstock

Top 5 Stocks Exhibiting Significant Relative Price Strength

Read MoreHide Full Article

Whether a stock has the potential to offer considerable returns is determined primarily by its earnings and valuation ratios. Simultaneously, it is important to check whether its price performance exceeds its peers or the industry average.

On such comparison, if we find that a stock is unable to match up to wider sectoral growth despite having impressive earnings momentum or valuation multiples, it may be better to avoid it.

However, those outperforming their respective industries or benchmarks should be included in your portfolio, since they have a higher chance of securing significant returns. Picking a stock that outperforms its peers ensures that you have a winning option on your hands.

At the same time, it is imperative that you determine whether or not an investment has relevant upside potential when considering stocks with significant relative price strength. Stocks delivering better performance than the S&P 500 over a period of 1 to 3 months at the least and having solid fundamentals indicate room for growth and are the best ways to go about this strategy.

Finally, it is important to find out whether analysts are optimistic about the upcoming earnings results of these companies. In order to do this, we have added positive estimate revisions for the current quarter’s (Q1) earnings to our screen. When a stock undergoes an upward revision, it leads to additional price gains.

Screening Parameters

Relative % Price change – 12 weeks greater than 0

Relative % Price change – 4 weeks greater than 0

Relative % Price change – 1 week greater than 0

(We have considered those stocks that have been outperforming the S&P 500 over the last 12 weeks, 4 weeks and 1 week.)

% Change (Q1) Est. over 4 Weeks greater than 0: Positive current quarter estimate revisions over the last four weeks.

Zacks Rank equal to 1: Only Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks – that have returned more than 26% annually over the last 26 years and surpassed the S&P 500 in 23 of the last 26 years – can get through.

Current Price greater than or equal to $5 and Average 20-day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000: A minimum price of $5 is a good standard to screen low-priced stocks, while a high trading volume would imply adequate liquidity.

VGM Score less than or equal to B: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of ‘A’ or ‘B’ when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or #2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential.

Here are the five of the nine stocks that made it through the screen:

Apogee Enterprises Inc. (APOG - Free Report) : Based in Minneapolis, MN, Apogee Enterprises is a leader in technologies for the design and development of value-added glass products, services and systems. The fiscal 2017 Zacks Consensus Estimate for this company is $2.83, representing 27.48% earnings per share growth over fiscal 2016. The next fiscal year’s average forecast is $3.40, pointing to 20.14% growth. Apogee Enterprises has a VGM score of “A”.

Global Brass and Copper Holdings Inc. : The company is a fabricator and distributor of copper and brass products primarily in North America. Sporting a VGM score of “A”, Schaumburg, IL headquartered Global Brass and Copper Holdings’ expected EPS growth rate for 3 to 5 years currently stands at 10%.

Companhia de Saneamento Basico do Estado de Sao Pauloor SABESP (SBS - Free Report) : Headquartered in Sao Paulo, Brazil, SABESP provides public water and sewage services. The company has a VGM score of “A” and surprised earnings to the upside in each of the last two quarters.

Barracuda Networks Inc. : A top designer and marketer of security and storage solutions focused on mid-market enterprise  customers, Campbell, CA based Barracuda Networks has a VGM score of “B”. Over the past 30 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2016 and 2017 experienced an increase of 143% and 83%, respectively, to 17 cents and 22 cents per share.

AMN Healthcare Services Inc. : Headquartered in San Diego, CA, AMN Healthcare is a leading provider of healthcare staffing and workforce management solutions. With a VGM score of “B”, the company has an excellent earnings surprise history. It surpassed estimates in each of the last four quarters at an average rate of 23.59%.

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

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.

Zacks Restaurant Recommendations: Inaddition to dining at these special places, you can feast on their stock shares. A Zacks Special Report spotlights 5 recent IPOs to watch plus 2 stocks that offer immediate promise in a booming sector. Download it free »


See More Zacks Research for These Tickers


Normally $25 each - click below to receive one report FREE:


Companhia de saneamento Basico Do Estado De Sao Paulo - Sabesp (SBS) - free report >>

Apogee Enterprises, Inc. (APOG) - free report >>

Published in