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Snap these 4 Top-Ranked Liquid Stocks to Drive Solid Returns
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Investors seeking healthy returns should add stocks with favorable liquidity to their portfolios.
Liquidity measures a company’s capability to meet its short-term debt obligations. Stocks with high liquidity levels have always been in demand, owing to their potential to provide maximum returns.
Investors should be alert before considering such stocks. While a high liquidity level may imply that the company is clearing its dues faster than its peers, it may also suggest that it cannot utilize assets competently.
One may consider efficiency and liquidity to identify potential winners.
Measures to Identify Liquid Stocks
Current Ratio: It measures current assets relative to current liabilities. The ratio gauges a company’s potential to meet short- and long-term debt obligations. A current ratio — the working capital ratio — below 1 indicates that the company has more liabilities than assets. However, a high current ratio does not always suggest that the company is in good financial shape. It may also indicate that the firm failed to utilize its assets significantly. Hence, a range of 1-3 is considered ideal.
Quick Ratio: Unlike the current ratio, the quick ratio — the ‘acid-test ratio’ or ‘quick assets ratio’ — indicates a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations. It considers inventory, excluding the current assets relative to current liabilities. A quick ratio of more than 1 is desirable, like the current ratio.
Cash Ratio: This is the most conservative ratio among the three, considering cash and cash equivalents and invested funds relative to current liabilities. It measures a company’s ability to meet existing debt obligations using the most liquid assets. Though a cash ratio of more than 1 may suggest sound financials, a higher number may indicate inefficiency in cash utilization.
A ratio greater than 1 is always desirable but may not always represent a company’s financial condition.
Screening Parameters
To pick the best of the lot, we have added asset utilization — a widely-used measure of a company’s efficiency — as one of the screening criteria. Asset utilization is the ratio of total sales in the past 12 months to the last four-quarter average of total assets. Though this ratio varies across industries, companies with a ratio higher than their respective industries can be considered efficient.
We added our proprietary Growth Style Score to the screen to ensure these liquid and efficient stocks have solid growth potential.
Current Ratio, Quick Ratio and Cash Ratio between 1 and 3 (While liquidity ratios greater than 1 are desirable, significantly high ratios may indicate inefficiency.)
Asset utilization is more significant than the industry average (Higher asset utilization than the industry average indicates a company’s efficiency.)
Growth Score less than or equal to B (Back-tested results show that stocks with a Growth Score of A or B handily beat other stocks when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2.)
These criteria have narrowed the universe of more than 7,700 stocks to only 10.
Here are four stocks out of the 10 that qualified for the screen:
American Public Education, Inc (APEI - Free Report) is an online and campus-based post-secondary education provider. The company serves its students through three subsidiary institutions — American Public University System (APUS), Rasmussen University (RU) and Hondros College of Nursing (HCN). American Public is benefiting from solid contributions from the APUS and HCN segments. For fourth-quarter 2023, the company expects APUS’ total net course registrations to be 88,900-90,700, reflecting growth of 2-4% year over year. HCN’s total enrollment is expected to increase 19% from the prior year’s figure to 3,100 students. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEI’s 2023 bottom line is pegged at a loss of $3.44 per share compared with a loss per share of $6.08 reported in the previous year. The company has a Growth Score of A.
Oceaneering International (OII - Free Report) is a leading provider of offshore equipment and technology solutions to the energy industry and is active at all phases of the offshore oilfield lifecycle. Oceaneering’s geographically diversified asset base spread across the United States and the rest of the world and its revenues — evenly split between international and domestic operations — lowers its risk profile. The outlook for the company’s Subsea Robotics segment is impressive. The company’s strong relationships with high-quality customers provide revenue visibility and business certainty. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings is pegged at 86 cents per share, unchanged in the past 30 days. OII has a Growth Score of A.
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH - Free Report) is a specialty pharmaceutical company which focuses on developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling generic and proprietary injectable and inhalation products. Its products include Enoxaparin Sodium Injection, Amphadase, Cortrosyn for Injection and prefilled disposable emergency syringes for crash cart use. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings is pegged at $3.21 per share, up 2.6% in the past 60 days. AMPH has a Growth Score of B and a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 52.1%, on average.
GigaCloud Technology (GCT - Free Report) provides end-to-end B2B e-commerce solutions for big parcel merchandise worldwide. The company's marketplace brings together manufacturers (mainly in Asia) and resellers (in the United States, Asia and Europe) to implement cross-border transactions. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2023 bottom line is pegged at $1.77 per share, calling for an improvement of 14.2% in the past 60 days. GCT has a Growth Score of A.
Get the remaining stocks on the list and start testing this and other ideas. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and back-testing software.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin and 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.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and 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 mentioned in this material.
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Snap these 4 Top-Ranked Liquid Stocks to Drive Solid Returns
Investors seeking healthy returns should add stocks with favorable liquidity to their portfolios.
Liquidity measures a company’s capability to meet its short-term debt obligations. Stocks with high liquidity levels have always been in demand, owing to their potential to provide maximum returns.
Investors should be alert before considering such stocks. While a high liquidity level may imply that the company is clearing its dues faster than its peers, it may also suggest that it cannot utilize assets competently.
One may consider efficiency and liquidity to identify potential winners.
Measures to Identify Liquid Stocks
Current Ratio: It measures current assets relative to current liabilities. The ratio gauges a company’s potential to meet short- and long-term debt obligations. A current ratio — the working capital ratio — below 1 indicates that the company has more liabilities than assets. However, a high current ratio does not always suggest that the company is in good financial shape. It may also indicate that the firm failed to utilize its assets significantly. Hence, a range of 1-3 is considered ideal.
Quick Ratio: Unlike the current ratio, the quick ratio — the ‘acid-test ratio’ or ‘quick assets ratio’ — indicates a company’s ability to pay short-term obligations. It considers inventory, excluding the current assets relative to current liabilities. A quick ratio of more than 1 is desirable, like the current ratio.
Cash Ratio: This is the most conservative ratio among the three, considering cash and cash equivalents and invested funds relative to current liabilities. It measures a company’s ability to meet existing debt obligations using the most liquid assets. Though a cash ratio of more than 1 may suggest sound financials, a higher number may indicate inefficiency in cash utilization.
A ratio greater than 1 is always desirable but may not always represent a company’s financial condition.
Screening Parameters
To pick the best of the lot, we have added asset utilization — a widely-used measure of a company’s efficiency — as one of the screening criteria. Asset utilization is the ratio of total sales in the past 12 months to the last four-quarter average of total assets. Though this ratio varies across industries, companies with a ratio higher than their respective industries can be considered efficient.
We added our proprietary Growth Style Score to the screen to ensure these liquid and efficient stocks have solid growth potential.
Current Ratio, Quick Ratio and Cash Ratio between 1 and 3 (While liquidity ratios greater than 1 are desirable, significantly high ratios may indicate inefficiency.)
Asset utilization is more significant than the industry average (Higher asset utilization than the industry average indicates a company’s efficiency.)
Zacks Rank equal to #1 (Only Strong Buy-rated stocks can get through). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Growth Score less than or equal to B (Back-tested results show that stocks with a Growth Score of A or B handily beat other stocks when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2.)
These criteria have narrowed the universe of more than 7,700 stocks to only 10.
Here are four stocks out of the 10 that qualified for the screen:
American Public Education, Inc (APEI - Free Report) is an online and campus-based post-secondary education provider. The company serves its students through three subsidiary institutions — American Public University System (APUS), Rasmussen University (RU) and Hondros College of Nursing (HCN). American Public is benefiting from solid contributions from the APUS and HCN segments. For fourth-quarter 2023, the company expects APUS’ total net course registrations to be 88,900-90,700, reflecting growth of 2-4% year over year. HCN’s total enrollment is expected to increase 19% from the prior year’s figure to 3,100 students. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for APEI’s 2023 bottom line is pegged at a loss of $3.44 per share compared with a loss per share of $6.08 reported in the previous year. The company has a Growth Score of A.
Oceaneering International (OII - Free Report) is a leading provider of offshore equipment and technology solutions to the energy industry and is active at all phases of the offshore oilfield lifecycle. Oceaneering’s geographically diversified asset base spread across the United States and the rest of the world and its revenues — evenly split between international and domestic operations — lowers its risk profile. The outlook for the company’s Subsea Robotics segment is impressive. The company’s strong relationships with high-quality customers provide revenue visibility and business certainty. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings is pegged at 86 cents per share, unchanged in the past 30 days. OII has a Growth Score of A.
Amphastar Pharmaceuticals (AMPH - Free Report) is a specialty pharmaceutical company which focuses on developing, manufacturing, marketing and selling generic and proprietary injectable and inhalation products. Its products include Enoxaparin Sodium Injection, Amphadase, Cortrosyn for Injection and prefilled disposable emergency syringes for crash cart use. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 earnings is pegged at $3.21 per share, up 2.6% in the past 60 days. AMPH has a Growth Score of B and a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 52.1%, on average.
GigaCloud Technology (GCT - Free Report) provides end-to-end B2B e-commerce solutions for big parcel merchandise worldwide. The company's marketplace brings together manufacturers (mainly in Asia) and resellers (in the United States, Asia and Europe) to implement cross-border transactions. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for its 2023 bottom line is pegged at $1.77 per share, calling for an improvement of 14.2% in the past 60 days. GCT has a Growth Score of A.
Get the remaining stocks on the list and start testing this and other ideas. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and back-testing software.
The Research Wizard is a great place to begin and 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 of the Research Wizard today.
Disclosure: Officers, directors and 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 mentioned in this material.
Disclosure: Performance information for Zacks’ portfolios and strategies is available at: https://www.zacks.com/performance.