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4 Stocks Showing Strong and Improving Cash Flow Momentum for 2026
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Key Takeaways
ATRO expands into aircraft lighting integration, and consensus earnings estimates rise for 2025 and 2026.
GLDD sees higher 2025 and 2026 earnings expectations as strong demand supports its U.S. dredging operations.
NGS witnesses improving earnings estimates, supported by its natural gas compression equipment and services.
As investors position portfolios for 2026, the importance of healthy cash flow is taking center stage in evaluating business strength and durability. While profits remain a key goal, consistent cash generation underpins a company’s ability to sustain operations, fund growth initiatives and maintain financial flexibility.
In this context, stocks such as Astronics Corporation (ATRO - Free Report) , Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (GLDD - Free Report) , Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NGS - Free Report) and Strattec Security Corporation (STRT - Free Report) emerge as compelling picks, supported by improving cash flow trends.
Although profit-making companies often attract investor attention, earnings alone do not ensure long-term stability. Businesses with uneven cash flows can face stress even when profitable. Steady cash generation signals effective capital management, provides protection during market volatility and is especially valuable amid persistent global uncertainty and market dislocations.
To figure out this efficiency, one needs to consider a company’s net cash flow. While in any business, cash moves in and out, it is net cash flow that explains how much money a company is actually generating.
If a company is experiencing a positive cash flow, it denotes an increase in its liquid assets, which gives it the means to meet debt obligations, shell out for expenses, reinvest in the business, endure downturns and finally return wealth to shareholders. On the other hand, a negative cash flow indicates a decline in the company’s liquidity, which in turn lowers its flexibility to support these moves.
However, having a positive cash flow merely does not secure a company’s future growth. To ride on the growth curve, a company must have its cash flow increasing because that indicates management’s efficiency in regulating its cash movements and less dependency on outside financing for running its business.
Therefore, keep yourself abreast with the following screen to bet on stocks with rising cash flows.
Screening Parameters:
To find stocks that have seen increasing cash flow over time, we ran the screen for those whose cash flow in the latest reported quarter was at least equal to or greater than the 5-year average cash flow per common share. This implies a positive trend and increasing cash over a period of time.
In addition to this, we chose:
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 company’s future performance.
Current Price greater than or equal to $5: This sieves out low-priced stocks.
VGM Score of B or better: This score is also of great assistance in selecting stocks. Importantly, this scoring system helps in picking winning stocks in their industry categories.
Here are four out of 12 stocks that qualified the screening:
Astronics is a manufacturer of specialized lighting and electronics for the cockpit, cabin and exteriors of military, commercial transport and private business jet aircraft. As a major lighting and electronics supplier to the aircraft industry, ATRO’s strategy is to expand from a components and subsystems supplier to an aircraft lighting systems integrator, increasing the value and content it provides to various aircraft platforms.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Astronics’s 2025 and 2026 earnings per share have improved 10.3% and 8.4%, respectively, over the past two months. ATRO has a VGM Score of B.
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is the largest provider of dredging services in the United States, conducting business to maintain and deepen shipping channels, reclaim land from the ocean and renourish storm-damaged coastline.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock’s 2025 and 2026 earnings has moved upward by 6.9% over the past two months. GLDD has a VGM Score of A.
Natural Gas Services Group manufactures, fabricates, sells, rents and services natural gas compressors that enhance the production of natural gas wells.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Natural Gas Services Group’s 2025 and 2026 earnings per share has improved 9.5% and 14.1%, respectively, over the past two months. NGS has a VGM Score of A.
Strattec Security designs, develops, manufactures and markets mechanical locks, electro-mechanical locks and related products for automotive manufacturers with operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. STRT has a VGM Score of A.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Strattec Security’s fiscal 2026 earnings has moved 23.3% north in the past two months and currently stands at $5.24 per share.
Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and back-testing software.
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.
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
4 Stocks Showing Strong and Improving Cash Flow Momentum for 2026
Key Takeaways
As investors position portfolios for 2026, the importance of healthy cash flow is taking center stage in evaluating business strength and durability. While profits remain a key goal, consistent cash generation underpins a company’s ability to sustain operations, fund growth initiatives and maintain financial flexibility.
In this context, stocks such as Astronics Corporation (ATRO - Free Report) , Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Corporation (GLDD - Free Report) , Natural Gas Services Group, Inc. (NGS - Free Report) and Strattec Security Corporation (STRT - Free Report) emerge as compelling picks, supported by improving cash flow trends.
Although profit-making companies often attract investor attention, earnings alone do not ensure long-term stability. Businesses with uneven cash flows can face stress even when profitable. Steady cash generation signals effective capital management, provides protection during market volatility and is especially valuable amid persistent global uncertainty and market dislocations.
To figure out this efficiency, one needs to consider a company’s net cash flow. While in any business, cash moves in and out, it is net cash flow that explains how much money a company is actually generating.
If a company is experiencing a positive cash flow, it denotes an increase in its liquid assets, which gives it the means to meet debt obligations, shell out for expenses, reinvest in the business, endure downturns and finally return wealth to shareholders. On the other hand, a negative cash flow indicates a decline in the company’s liquidity, which in turn lowers its flexibility to support these moves.
However, having a positive cash flow merely does not secure a company’s future growth. To ride on the growth curve, a company must have its cash flow increasing because that indicates management’s efficiency in regulating its cash movements and less dependency on outside financing for running its business.
Therefore, keep yourself abreast with the following screen to bet on stocks with rising cash flows.
Screening Parameters:
To find stocks that have seen increasing cash flow over time, we ran the screen for those whose cash flow in the latest reported quarter was at least equal to or greater than the 5-year average cash flow per common share. This implies a positive trend and increasing cash over a period of time.
In addition to this, we chose:
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 company’s future performance.
Current Price greater than or equal to $5: This sieves out low-priced stocks.
VGM Score of B or better: This score is also of great assistance in selecting stocks. Importantly, this scoring system helps in picking winning stocks in their industry categories.
Here are four out of 12 stocks that qualified the screening:
Astronics is a manufacturer of specialized lighting and electronics for the cockpit, cabin and exteriors of military, commercial transport and private business jet aircraft. As a major lighting and electronics supplier to the aircraft industry, ATRO’s strategy is to expand from a components and subsystems supplier to an aircraft lighting systems integrator, increasing the value and content it provides to various aircraft platforms.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Astronics’s 2025 and 2026 earnings per share have improved 10.3% and 8.4%, respectively, over the past two months. ATRO has a VGM Score of B.
Great Lakes Dredge & Dock is the largest provider of dredging services in the United States, conducting business to maintain and deepen shipping channels, reclaim land from the ocean and renourish storm-damaged coastline.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Great Lakes Dredge & Dock’s 2025 and 2026 earnings has moved upward by 6.9% over the past two months. GLDD has a VGM Score of A.
Natural Gas Services Group manufactures, fabricates, sells, rents and services natural gas compressors that enhance the production of natural gas wells.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Natural Gas Services Group’s 2025 and 2026 earnings per share has improved 9.5% and 14.1%, respectively, over the past two months. NGS has a VGM Score of A.
Strattec Security designs, develops, manufactures and markets mechanical locks, electro-mechanical locks and related products for automotive manufacturers with operations in the United States, Canada and Mexico. STRT has a VGM Score of A.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Strattec Security’s fiscal 2026 earnings has moved 23.3% north in the past two months and currently stands at $5.24 per share.
Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and back-testing software.
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.