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5 Stocks with Upgraded Broker Ratings Worth Buying Now

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During an earnings season, market sentiments get influenced by corporate results and guidance. Though earnings performance is a good enough indicator of a stock’s future performance, identifying growth drivers is not always an easy task.

Therefore, it is wise to seek help from the experts. One effective and easy way to pick profitable stocks is to follow rating upgrades by brokers, as they have a deeper insight into stocks and the overall sectors.

Brokers thoroughly analyze a company’s publicly available documents, attend conference calls and are in direct communication with the top management. Further, at times, they talk to customers to understand what they like or dislike about the products and services offered by the company.

Hence, there’s an all-inclusive research behind the rating of a broker on a company’s stock. Following what the majority of brokers are saying about a stock can help you measure its potential. Naturally, when an analyst upgrades a stock, you can easily rely on it.

Arguably, it’s not the right thing to depend solely on brokers’ upgrades to build your portfolio. You must take other factors into consideration as well to ensure strong returns.

The Winning Strategy

The following screen will help you in finding the potential winners:

Broker Rating Upgrades (4 weeks): The screen selects stocks that have witnessed broker rating upgrades over the last four weeks.

Current Price greater than 10: The stocks must be trading above $10.

Average 20-day Volume greater than 100,000: A large trading volume guarantees that the stock is easily tradable.

Zacks Rank equal to #1: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven record of success. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

VGM Score equal to A: 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 five of the nine stocks that made it through the screen:

Headquartered in Forest City, IA, Winnebago Industries, Inc. (WGO - Free Report) is a leading producer of recreational vehicles (RV) in the U.S. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 1.2%. The stock has witnessed 15.4% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. , headquartered in Tampa, FL, provides managed care services for government-sponsored health care programs. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 29.6%. The stock has witnessed 8.7% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA - Free Report) , based in Boston, MA provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors in the U.S. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 4.1%. The stock has witnessed 4.4% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

St. Petersburg, FL-based CONE Midstream Partners LP owns, operates, develops, and purchases natural gas gathering and other midstream energy assets in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 19.4%. The stock has witnessed 5.9% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc. (DKS - Free Report) , based in Coraopolis, PA, operates as a sporting goods retailer primarily in the eastern United States. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 4.7%. The stock has witnessed 1.7% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and backtesting software.

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

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DICK'S Sporting Goods, Inc. (DKS) - free report >>

LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (LPLA) - free report >>

Winnebago Industries, Inc. (WGO) - free report >>

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