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Boost Your Portfolio for Q4 with this First Profit Stock Screener
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The market mounted a bit of a comeback Tuesday after Monday’s selloff marked the continuation of a recent broad-based downturn in the last month. The S&P 500 popped 1%, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.3% as the bulls and the bears continue to fight it out for control over the market to start the final quarter of the year.
The benchmark index is now down around 4% from its early September records and some more selling could certainly be on the horizon given the impressive run. Plus, investors must always remember that pullbacks and even corrections are vital and healthy aspects of well-functioning markets.
Investors also jumped back into tech stocks after some big names fell into some overdone technical levels to start the week. For instance, the Nasdaq 100-tracking QQQ ETF touched RSI levels of 29 on Monday, just below the oversold threshold of 30. The tech-heavy index now trades around 6% below its highs.
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research
Economists and big Wall Street banks have lowered their 2021 GDP forecasts, citing supply chain logjams, rising prices, and the delta variant. These impacts are real, but the longer-term bullish case remains.
The economy and retail sales have shown signs of resilience heading into the vital holiday shopping season. Meanwhile, the overall S&P 500 earnings and margins outlook is still strong, despite slowing revisions activity. Plus, even when the Fed raises rates, yields will likely remain low enough for the foreseeable future to keep TINA, or there is no alternative investing alive and well (also read: Clouds on the Earnings Horizon).
With this in mind, investors with long-term outlooks should always be on the hunt for stocks, especially since timing the market is extremely difficult.
Let’s use our Zacks ‘First Profit’ screener to find strong names to consider buying in the fourth quarter heading into Q3 earnings season …
First Profit
The idea is to search for companies that recently reported their first quarterly profit. More specifically, the screen searches for firms that just posted their first profit last quarter, after not posting a profit for at least the previous four quarters.
Finding companies that recently reported their first profits help investors find stocks that can prove to be big winners. These companies may vary widely. Some of the firms might be new, and this recent profit is perhaps the only profit in its short history.
Meanwhile, other companies might have held an impressive and long history of quarterly profitability, but for whatever reason haven't seen a profit in a while. Therefore, the return to profit could spark a turning point that management had promised or Wall Street had been clamoring for.
The concept is relatively simple: if the trend has been one of improvement, there is a solid chance the trend will continue. This is true whether a company has been profitable, or is just reaching that key inflection point.
And that’s what we are screening for today…
• EPS for the previous 4 Quarters less than or equal to 0
(This means in each of the previous 4 quarters (except the most recently reported quarter) the company has reported earnings of less than or equal to zero, i.e., no profit.)
• EPS for the recently reported quarter greater than 0
(This time, the company reported earnings greater than zero, meaning they finally showed a profit.)
• Current Price greater than or equal to 5
(Stocks that are trading for less than $5 are more speculative.)
The screen is pretty simple, yet powerful. Here are three of the roughly 90 stocks that made it through this week…
Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start looking for the newest companies that fit these criteria. It's easy to do. And it could help you find your next big winner. Start screening for these companies today with a free trial to the Research Wizard. You can do it.
Want more articles from this author? Scroll up to the top of this article and click the FOLLOW AUTHOR button to get an email each time a new article is published.
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.
Image: Bigstock
Boost Your Portfolio for Q4 with this First Profit Stock Screener
The market mounted a bit of a comeback Tuesday after Monday’s selloff marked the continuation of a recent broad-based downturn in the last month. The S&P 500 popped 1%, while the Nasdaq jumped 1.3% as the bulls and the bears continue to fight it out for control over the market to start the final quarter of the year.
The benchmark index is now down around 4% from its early September records and some more selling could certainly be on the horizon given the impressive run. Plus, investors must always remember that pullbacks and even corrections are vital and healthy aspects of well-functioning markets.
Investors also jumped back into tech stocks after some big names fell into some overdone technical levels to start the week. For instance, the Nasdaq 100-tracking QQQ ETF touched RSI levels of 29 on Monday, just below the oversold threshold of 30. The tech-heavy index now trades around 6% below its highs.
Economists and big Wall Street banks have lowered their 2021 GDP forecasts, citing supply chain logjams, rising prices, and the delta variant. These impacts are real, but the longer-term bullish case remains.
The economy and retail sales have shown signs of resilience heading into the vital holiday shopping season. Meanwhile, the overall S&P 500 earnings and margins outlook is still strong, despite slowing revisions activity. Plus, even when the Fed raises rates, yields will likely remain low enough for the foreseeable future to keep TINA, or there is no alternative investing alive and well (also read: Clouds on the Earnings Horizon).
With this in mind, investors with long-term outlooks should always be on the hunt for stocks, especially since timing the market is extremely difficult.
Let’s use our Zacks ‘First Profit’ screener to find strong names to consider buying in the fourth quarter heading into Q3 earnings season …
First Profit
The idea is to search for companies that recently reported their first quarterly profit. More specifically, the screen searches for firms that just posted their first profit last quarter, after not posting a profit for at least the previous four quarters.
Finding companies that recently reported their first profits help investors find stocks that can prove to be big winners. These companies may vary widely. Some of the firms might be new, and this recent profit is perhaps the only profit in its short history.
Meanwhile, other companies might have held an impressive and long history of quarterly profitability, but for whatever reason haven't seen a profit in a while. Therefore, the return to profit could spark a turning point that management had promised or Wall Street had been clamoring for.
The concept is relatively simple: if the trend has been one of improvement, there is a solid chance the trend will continue. This is true whether a company has been profitable, or is just reaching that key inflection point.
And that’s what we are screening for today…
• EPS for the previous 4 Quarters less than or equal to 0
(This means in each of the previous 4 quarters (except the most recently reported quarter) the company has reported earnings of less than or equal to zero, i.e., no profit.)
• EPS for the recently reported quarter greater than 0
(This time, the company reported earnings greater than zero, meaning they finally showed a profit.)
• Current Price greater than or equal to 5
(Stocks that are trading for less than $5 are more speculative.)
The screen is pretty simple, yet powerful. Here are three of the roughly 90 stocks that made it through this week…
Caesars Entertainment, Inc. (CZR - Free Report)
Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER - Free Report)
The Boeing Company (BA - Free Report)
Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start looking for the newest companies that fit these criteria. It's easy to do. And it could help you find your next big winner. Start screening for these companies today with a free trial to the Research Wizard. You can do it.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
Want more articles from this author? Scroll up to the top of this article and click the FOLLOW AUTHOR button to get an email each time a new article is published.
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/.