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5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength to Enhance Your Portfolio

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Wall Street has seen an impressive bull run in 2023 after a highly disappointing 2022. Year to date, the three major stock indexes — the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite — have advanced 6.6%, 18.5% and 38.1%, respectively.

U.S. stock markets have regained momentum in November after three consecutive months of decline. Investors are more confident these days as a large section of market participants are expecting the Fed to be already through with its ongoing interest rate hike cycle. The CME FedWatch tool currently shows a 97% probability that the central bank will keep the Fed Fund rate unchanged at the existing level of 5.25-5.5%.

As a result, investors are less worried about a recession in 2024 and more confident that the Fed will opt for the first rate cut after two years in the first half of 2024. Several weak economic data and a gradually dwindling inflation rate support this view. As the fundamentals of the U.S. economy remain strong, this may enable the path for the much-hyped soft-landing by the Fed, triggering a year-end rally.

Despite the recent rally, a handful of stocks have shown price strength. We have selected five stocks likely to gain in the near term on the back of a favorable Zacks Rank. These companies are — Direct Digital Holdings Inc. (DRCT - Free Report) , Manitex International Inc. (MNTX - Free Report) , InterDigital Inc. (IDCC - Free Report) , RCM Technologies Inc. (RCMT - Free Report) and Barrett Business Services Inc. (BBSI - Free Report) .

Here’s How We Arrived at the Picks

We have primarily targeted stocks that have freshly been on a bull run. 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 it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.

However, recent price strength alone cannot create magic. Therefore, other relevant parameters are needed 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: 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 search from over 7,700 stocks to 15.

Let’s discuss five out of those 15 stocks:

Direct Digital provides advertising and marketing technology. DRCT’s supply-side platform Colossus SSP offers advertisers of all sizes extensive reach within the general market and multicultural media properties. DRCT’s operating companies Huddled Masses and Orange142 deliver significant ROI for middle-market advertisers by providing data-optimized programmatic solutions.

The stock price of Direct Digital has soared 403.6% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved more than 100% over the last 30 days.

Manitex International provides engineered lifting solutions in the United States, Italy, Canada, France, Chile, and internationally. MNTX designs, manufactures, and distributes products that are used in various industries.

MNTX also offers boom trucks, truck cranes, and sign cranes primarily for use in industrial projects, energy exploration, and infrastructure development comprising roads, bridges, and commercial construction; and truck-mounted aerial platforms.

The stock price of Manitex International has jumped 58.3% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 72% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings improved 19.4% over the last 30 days.

Interdigital is a pioneer in advanced mobile technologies enabling wireless communications and capabilities. IDCC is engaged in designing and developing a wide range of advanced technology solutions, which are used in digital cellular as well as wireless 3G, 4G and IEEE 802-related products and networks.

Furthermore, IDCC’s team of skilled engineers has expertise in major mobile connectivity as well as in technologies related to content delivery. Notably, InterDigital’s secure and scalable horizontal platform, oneMPOWER, enables businesses to launch and manage Internet of Things applications.

The stock price of Interdigital has climbed 33.7% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 8.6% over the last 30 days.

RCM Technologies is a national provider of Business, Technology and resource solutions in information technology and professional engineering to customers in corporate and government sectors.

RCMT has grown its information technology competencies in the areas of resource augmentation, e-business, Enterprise Resource Planning support, network and infrastructure support and knowledge management. RCMT's engineering expertise is in the form of technical design, field engineering, field support, procedures development and project and program management.

The stock price of RCM Technologies has surged 32% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 1.1% over the last 30 days.

Barrett Business Services provides light industrial, clerical and technical employees to a wide range of businesses through staff leasing, contract staffing, site management and temporary staffing arrangements. BBSI provides employees to a diverse set of customers, including among others, forest products and agriculture-based companies, electronics manufacturers, transportation and shipping enterprises, professional firms and general contractors.

The stock price of BBSI has rallied 21.8% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 8.6% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 4.7% over the last 30 days.

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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