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Zacks.com featured highlights: Nutrisystem, Kronos Worldwide, Applied Optoelectronics and The Brink's

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 10, 2017 - Stocks in this week’s article include Nutrisystem, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRI Free Report), Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KRO Free Report), Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOI Free Report) and The Brink's Company (NYSE:BCO Free Report).

Ride These 4 Momentum Stocks for Exciting Returns

When value or growth investing fails to fetch sustained profits, one should explore another time-tested winning strategy that simply bets on the frontrunner stocks. Translated, one of the most successful strategies today is to get in on momentum stocks at the right time.

At the core, momentum investing is buying high, selling higher. It is based on the idea that once a stock establishes a trend, it is more likely to continue in that direction than move against the drift. Thus, this strategy calls for hitching a ride on an already fast-moving train, without fretting about valuations or growth prospects. But why does the momentum strategy work?

There is a simple reason behind this. It works because we are humans!

There’s a whole laundry list of behavioral biases that most investors exhibit and these emotional responses and mistakes are the very reason that momentum strategy works. For instance, there are investors who are anxious about booking losses and hence hold on to losing stocks for too long, hopeful of a rebound in the prices. On the other hand, a few investors sell their winners way too early.

Furthermore, investors initially tend to under-react to news, events or data releases. However, once things become clear, they tend to go with the flow and overreact, causing dramatic price reactions.

These behavioral problems extend trends, and thus open up huge opportunities for momentum players. So basically, it’s a way to profit from the general human tendency to extrapolate current trends into the future.

Momentum investing is thus based on that gap in time that exists before the mean reversion occurs, i.e. before prices become rational again.

Momentum strategies have been known to be alpha-generative over a long period of time and across markets. So obviously, this strategy is quite tricky to implement, as detecting these trends is no child’s play.

Here, we have created a strategy that will help investors get in on these fast movers and make handsome gains. Our screen will help you benefit from both long-term price momentum and a short-term pullback in price, which would reflect some profit-taking in the stock.

Screening Parameters

Percentage Change Price (52 Weeks) = Top #50: This item selects the top 50 stocks with the best percentage price change over the last 52 weeks. This parameter ensures we get stocks that have appreciated the maximum over the past one year.

Percentage Change in Price (1 Week) = Bottom #10: From the above 50 stocks, we then choose those that are also among the 10 worst performers over a short one-week period.

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

Momentum Style Score of B or better: A top Momentum Style Score knocks out a lot of the screening process as it takes into account several factors including volume change and performance relative to its peers. It indicates when the timing is best to grab a stock and take advantage of its momentum with the highest probability of success. Stocks with a Momentum Style Score of 'A' or 'B,' when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) handily outperform other stocks.

Current Price greater than 5: The stocks must all be trading at a minimum of $5.

Market Capitalization = Top #3000: We have chosen stocks that are among the top 3000 in terms of market value to ensure strong liquidity.

Average 20-Day Volume greater than 100,000: A substantial trading volume ensures that these stocks are easily tradable.

Here are four of the eight stocks that made it through this screen:

Nutrisystem, Inc. (NASDAQ:NTRIFree Report), which provides weight management products and services for women and men in the United States, has gained an impressive 85.7% over the past one year. The company has a Momentum Style Score of ‘A.’

Shares of Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KROFree Report), which produces and markets titanium dioxide pigments (TiO2) in Europe, North America, the Asia Pacific, and internationally, went up over 217% in the past one year. The company has a Momentum Style Score of ‘B.’

Applied Optoelectronics (NASDAQ:AAOIFree Report) designs, manufactures, and sells fiber-optic networking products primarily for Internet data center, cable television, and fiber-to-the-home networking end-markets. The stock appreciated a whopping 387.7% in the past one year and has a Momentum Style Score of ‘A.’

The Brink's Company (NYSE:BCOFree Report) provides secure transportation, cash management services, and other security-related services worldwide. The stock soared almost 108% in the past one year and has a Momentum Style Score of ‘B.’

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.

About Screen of the Week

Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine.  But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use. Each week, Zacks Profit from the Pros free email newsletter shares a new screening strategy. Learn more about it here https://at.zacks.com/?id=112

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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/performancefor information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.


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Kronos Worldwide Inc (KRO) - free report >>

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