The ongoing tensions in the Middle East have resulted in significant uncertainty, making the U.S. stock market highly volatile. The continued restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz and the resultant jump in oil prices compounded the stock market misery. A hotter-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data for April and the recent slump in tech stocks, following their aggressive profit booking, add to the list of concerns.

Despite the current turmoil, turning one’s back on equities is never advisable. So, what’s the way forward? One way is to adhere to broker advice. In the absence of proper guidance, individual investors may end up selecting the wrong stocks for their portfolio. This might lead them to waste the hard-earned money they invested in the stock market.

As brokers indulge in extensive research on stocks under their coverage, they have access to much more detailed information on a company. We believe investors would do well to keep an eye on broker-favored stocks, such as Bunge Global (BG Quick QuoteBG - Free Report) , Archer Daniels Midland (ADM Quick QuoteADM - Free Report) , Avnet (AVT Quick QuoteAVT - Free Report) , American Airlines (AAL Quick QuoteAAL - Free Report) , and Bloomin’ Brands (BLMN Quick QuoteBLMN - Free Report) .

The above write-up clearly suggests that by following broker actions, one can arrive at a winning portfolio of stocks. Keeping this in mind, we designed a screen to shortlist stocks based on improving analyst recommendations and upward revisions of earnings estimates over the last four weeks.

Also, since the price/sales ratio is a strong complementary valuation metric in the presence of analyst information, it is included. The price/sales ratio takes care of a company’s top line, making the strategy foolproof.

Screening Criteria

# (Up- Down Rating)/ Total (4 weeks) =Top #75: This gives the list of top 75 companies that have witnessed net upgrades over the last 4 weeks.

% change in Q (1) est. (4 weeks) = Top #10: This gives the top 10 stocks that have witnessed earnings estimate revisions over the past 4 weeks for the upcoming quarter.

To ensure that the strategy is a winning one, covering all bases, we have added the following screening parameters:

Price-to-Sales = Bot%10: The lower the ratio, the better. Companies meeting this criterion are in the bottom 10% of our universe of over 7,700 stocks with respect to this ratio.

Price greater than 5: A stock trading below $5 will not likely create significant interest for most investors.

Average Daily Volume greater than 100,000 shares over the last 20 trading days: Volume has to be significant to ensure that these are easily traded.

Market value ($ mil) = Top #3000: This gives us stocks that are the top 3000 if one judges by market capitalization.

Com/ADR/Canadian = Com: This takes out the ADR and Canadian stocks.

Here are five of the 10 stocks that made it through the screen:

Bunge Global is an agribusiness and food company worldwide, executing a fundamental transformation anchored by the Viterra merger, expanding global origination, processing scale and logistics efficiency. Bunge remains committed to its capital allocation priorities, paying dividends and repurchasing shares, while also reinvesting in growth.  

Currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Bunge expects its 2026 earnings per share to increase 26.4% on a year-over-year basis. BG’s earnings surpassed the consensus mark in each of the last four quarters. The average beat is 27.5%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Archer Daniels has been actively managing productivity and innovation as well as aligning work to the interconnected trends in food security, health and wellbeing. The company’s Nutrition segment is showing signs of recovery, led by improving performance in Human Nutrition.

Archer Daniels, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), expects its 2026 earnings per share to increase 32.4% on a year-over-year basis. ADM’s earnings surpassed the consensus mark in each of the last four quarters. The average beat is 5.4%.

Avnet is benefiting from strong demand in AI infrastructure, networking and industrial markets. The company is also benefiting from demand for components that support AI infrastructure. AI buildouts are increasing demand for products tied to power management, cooling systems, connectors, capacitors, resistors and sensors. Better sales execution is anticipated to aid revenue growth in the near term.

Avne Zacks Rank #2. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 9.5%, on average. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current quarter has increased 20.6% over the past 60 days.

American Airlines is based in Fort Worth, TX. Strong air travel demand, despite high fuel costs, is aiding AAL. American Airlines expects to fly over 4.2 million customers across more than 40,000 flights from May 21 through May 26. The busiest day in terms of travel is likely to be May 22. AAL expects record travel during the entire summer season (May 21-Sept. 8, 2026).  During the period, the airline expects to fly a record 75 million passengers across 750,000 flights. 

The company’s high debt levels are worrisome. The carrier’s earnings have surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the past four quarters (missing the mark in the other quarter). The average beat is 2.6%. American Airlines currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Bloomin’ Brands is one of the world’s largest casual and upscale dining restaurant operators. Bloomin’ Brands manages and operates nearly 1,500 restaurants in the United States and internationally.

Bloomin’ Brands, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #3, expects its 2026 earnings per share to decrease 22.8% on a year-over-year basis. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has remained stable over the past seven days.