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5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength to Enhance Your Return

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“In the stock game, winning means reaching a higher price.” However, striking the right chord each time needs a fair amount of luck.

No matter how disciplined and systematic investors are, equity market volatility will always manage to get the better of them. While a few lucky ones rake in the moolah, others fall victim to ad hoc strategies.

One could resort to commonly used techniques to find beaten down stocks that have the potential to recover faster than others. However, even such investment choices bear the risk of disappointment. Particularly, one could fall into the value trap if the hidden weaknesses in selected stock are not identified.

So, wouldn’t it be a safer strategy to look for stocks that are winners currently and have the potential to gain further?

Sounds a good idea? Here is how to execute it:

One should primarily target stocks that have recently been on a bull run. Actually, 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 else it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks that are capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.

However, recent price strength alone cannot create the magic. Therefore, you need to set other relevant parameters to create a successful investment strategy.

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

Screening Parameters:

Percentage Change in Price (4 Weeks) greater than zero: This criterion shows that the stock has moved higher in the last four weeks.

Percentage Change Price (12 Weeks) greater than 10: This indicates that the stock has seen momentum over the last three months. This lowers the risk of choosing stocks that may have drawn attention due to the overwhelming performance of the overall market in a very short 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.

Average Broker Rating 1 or 2: This indicates that brokers are also highly hopeful about the stock’s future performance.

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

Current Price/ 52-Week High-Low Range more than 85%: This criterion filters stocks that are trading near their respective 52-week highs. It indicates that these are strong enough in terms of price.

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

Here are five out of the seven stocks:

Spirit Airlines Inc. (SAVE - Free Report) is a leading provider of low-fare airline services in the United States, the Caribbean and Latin America. The company’s stock price has advanced 15.6% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 26.7% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 22.7% in the last 60 days. Spirit Airlines recorded a positive earnings surprise of 3.2% in the last four quarters.

Middlesex Water Co. (MSEX - Free Report) treats, stores and distributes water for residential, commercial, industrial and fire prevention purposes. The company’s stock price has advanced 15.5% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 42% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 6.5% in the last 60 days. Middlesex Water delivered a positive earnings surprise of 16.9% in the last four quarters.

Amedisys Inc. (AMED - Free Report) is a leading provider of healthcare services in the United States. The company’s stock price has advanced 13.4% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 62% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 5% in the last 60 days. Amedisys recorded a positive earnings surprise of 16.6% in the last four quarters.

BioTelemetry Inc. (BEAT - Free Report) provides ambulatory outpatient management solutions for monitoring clinical information regarding an individual's health. The company’s stock price has advanced 13.3% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 86.6% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 19.9% in the last 60 days. BioTelemetry delivered a positive earnings surprise of 55.6% in the last four quarters.

Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corp. (GLDD - Free Report) is the largest provider of dredging services in the United States. The company’s stock price has advanced 10.2% in the last four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 111.1% for current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 300% in the last 60 days. Great Lakes Dredge & Dock generated a positive earnings surprise of 157.5% in the last four quarters.

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.

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