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Zacks.com featured highlights: Post Holdings, Duluth Holdings, Ritter Pharmaceuticals, Koppers Holdings and Silicon Laboratories

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL –August 11, 2017 - Stocks in this week’s article include Post Holdings Inc. (NYSE:(POST - Free Report) Free Report), Duluth Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:(DLTH - Free Report) Free Report),  Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:Free Report), Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:(KOP - Free Report) Free Report) and Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ:(SLAB - Free Report) Free Report).

Bet on Unconventional Rising PE with These 5 Stocks

Investors are usually confident about low P/E investing. This most common value investing pattern advises to bet on stocks with low price to earnings (P/E). That’s because this basic measure of how much investors are spending for $1 worth of earnings speaks of undervaluation. The logic is simple — a stock’s current market price does not justify its higher earnings and therefore leaves room for upside.

But have you ever given it a thought that stocks with a rising P/E can also be worth buying. We’ll tell you why.

Inside the Concept of Increasing P/E

The concept is that as earnings rise, so should the price of the stock. As forecasts for expected earnings come in higher, strong demand for the stock should continue to push up its prices. After all, astock's P/E gives an indication of how much investors are ready to shell out per dollar of earnings.

So, if the P/E of a stock is rising steadily, it means that investors are assured of its inherent strength and believe that more positives are to come out of it.

Also, studies have revealed that stocks have seen their P/E ratios jump over 100% from their breakout point in the cycle. So, if you can pick stocks early in their breakout cycle, you can end up seeing considerable gains.

The Winning Strategy

In order to shortlist stocks that are exhibiting an increasing P/E, we chose the following as our primary screening parameters.

EPS growth estimate for the current year is greater than or equal to last year’s actual growth

Percentage change in last year EPS should be greater than or equal to zero

(These two criteria point to flat earnings or a growth trend over the years.)

Percentage change in price over four weeks greater than the percentage change in price over 12 weeks

Percentage change in price over 12 weeks greater than percentage change in price over 24 weeks

(These two criteria show that price of the stock is increasing consistently over the said time frames.)

Percentage price change for four weeks relative to the S&P 500 greater than the percentage price change for 12 weeks relative to the S&P 500

Percentage price change for 12 weeks relative to the S&P 500 greater than the percentage price change for 24 weeks relative to the S&P 500

(Here, the case for consistent price gains gets even stronger as it displays percentage price changes relative to the S&P 500.)

Percentage price change for 12 weeks is 20% higher than or equal to the percentage price change for 24 weeks, but it should not exceed 100%

(A 20% increase in the price of a stock from the breakout point gives cues of an impending uptrend. But a jump of over 100% indicates that there is limited scope for further upside and that the stock might be due for a reversal.)

In addition, we place a few other criteria that lead us to some likely outperformers.

Zacks Rank Less than equals to 2: Only companies with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) can get through.

Average 20-day Volume greater than or equal to 50,000: High trading volume implies that the stocks have adequate liquidity.

Just these few criteria narrowed down the universe from over 7,700 stocks to just 24.

Here are five out of the 24:

Post Holdings Inc. (NYSE:(POST - Free Report) Free Report): This is a manufacturer, marketer and distributor of branded ready-to-eat cereals in the United States and Canada. The stocks belongs to a Zacks Sector Rank in the top 19%, at the time of writing. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Duluth Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:(DLTH - Free Report) Free Report): This company provides casual wear, workwear and accessories for men and women. The stock belongs to a Zacks Industry Rank in the top 42%.

Ritter Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: Free Report): The company is involved in developing therapeutic products to treat inflammatory, gastrointestinal and metabolic diseases. The stock belongs to a Zacks Industry Rank in the top 42%.

Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:(KOP - Free Report) Free Report): This global integrated producer of carbon compounds and treated wood products belongs to a Zacks Industry Rank in the top 12%.

Silicon Laboratories Inc. (NASDAQ:(SLAB - Free Report) Free Report): This company designs and develops proprietary, analog-intensive, mixed-signal integrated circuits for the rapidly growing communications industry. The Zacks Industry Rank is in the top 44%.

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.