3 Top Stocks With Upgraded Broker Ratings To Buy Right Away

Overall, market sentiments have been fairly upbeat so far this year. Therefore, this is the right time to add a few great stocks to your portfolio. However, selecting stocks from the vast investment universe can be a daunting task.

For this, one has to painstakingly go through the fundamentals of every company and try to place them against the current economic background to figure out how it may fare as an investment. One way to cut this task out is to follow broker recommendation.

Brokers have far more insight into what’s happening in a particular company as they directly communicate with management. Further, they have a deeper understanding of the overall industry.

In addition, brokers thoroughly research a company’s publicly available documents, attend conference calls and engage in talks directly with the top management. Also at times, they engage in talks with customers to gauge what they like or dislike about the products and services offered by the company.

Hence, when brokers rate a particular company’s stock, their judgment can be relied upon. Naturally, when an analyst upgrades a stock, one can easily depend on it.

However, just depending on broker upgrades is not the correct way to build your investment portfolio. One should also take into consideration other factors to ensure solid returns.

Selecting the Winning Strategy

We have a screening strategy that will help in your search for potential winners:

Broker Rating Upgrades (four weeks) of 1% or more: The screen selects stocks that have witnessed broker rating upgrades of 1% or more over the past four weeks.

Current Price greater than $5: The stocks must be trading above $5.

Average 20-day Volume greater than 100,000: A large trading volume guarantees that the stock is easily tradable.

Zacks Rank equal to #1 or 2: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) have a proven record of success. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

VGM Score of A or B: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2, offer the best upside potential.

Here are three stocks that qualified the screening:

Based in Minneapolis, MN-General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) manufactures and markets branded consumer foods. Its fiscal 2020 earnings are expected to rise 6.6%. The stock, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2, has witnessed 10% upward revision in broker ratings, over the past four weeks.

Rent-A-Center, Inc. (NASDAQ:RCII) , headquartered in Plano, TX, leases household durable goods to customers on a rent-to-own basis. Its projected earnings growth is 8.2% for 2020. The stock, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 at present, has witnessed 12.5% upward revision in broker ratings, over the past four weeks.

Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. (NASDAQ:HIIQ) , headquartered in Tampa, FL, operates as a cloud-based technology platform and distributor of individual and family health insurance plans, and supplemental products. Its earnings growth is estimated to be 18.7% in 2020. The stock, flaunting a Zacks Rank #1 currently, has witnessed 20% upward revision in broker ratings, over the past four weeks.

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.

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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

Rent-A-Center, Inc. (RCII): Free Stock Analysis Report

General Mills, Inc. (GIS): Free Stock Analysis Report

Health Insurance Innovations, Inc. (HIIQ): Free Stock Analysis Report

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Zacks Investment Research