5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength Despite Trade Jitters

“In the stock game, winning means reaching a higher price.” However, striking the right chord each time needs a fair amount of luck.

No matter how disciplined and systematic investors are, equity market volatility will always manage to get the better of them. While a few lucky ones rake in the moolah, others fall victim to ad hoc strategies.

One could resort to commonly used techniques to find beaten down stocks that have the potential to recover faster than others. However, even such investment choices bear the risk of disappointment. Particularly, one could fall into the value trap if the hidden weaknesses in selected stock are not identified.

So, wouldn’t it be a safer strategy to look for stocks that are winners currently and have the potential to gain further?

Sounds good? Here’s how to execute it:

One should primarily target stocks that have recently been on a bull run. Actually, 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 else it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks that are capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.

However, recent price strength alone cannot create magic. Therefore, you need to set other relevant parameters 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 or 2: 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 universe from over 7,700 stocks to just 19.

Here we present five stocks out of those 19:

KB Home (NYSE:KBH) builds and sells various homes, including attached and detached single-family residential homes, townhomes, and condominiums primarily for first-time, first move-up, and active adult homebuyers. It operates in four segments: West Coast, Southwest, Central and Southeast.

The stock price has surged 13.7% in the past four weeks. It has expected earnings growth rate of 64.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 5.2% over the last 30 days.

Crocs Inc. (NASDAQ:CROX) designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and distributes casual lifestyle footwear and accessories for men, women, and children worldwide. It offers various footwear products, including clogs, sandals, flips and slides, shoes, and boots under the Crocs brand name.

The company’s stock price has surged 11.5% in the past four weeks. It has expected earnings growth rate of 67.4% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 1.4% over the last 30 days.

NetEase Inc. (NASDAQ:NTES) is an Internet technology company engaged in the development of applications, services and other technologies for the Internet in China.

The stock price has advanced 9.2% in the past four weeks. The company has expected earnings growth rate of 14.6% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 1.1% over the last 30 days.

Taylor Morrison Home Corp. (NYSE:TMHC) designs, builds and sells single-family and multi-family attached and detached homes and develops lifestyle and master-planned communities. It operates under the Taylor Morrison and Darling Homes brand names in the United States.

The stock price has gained 8.6% in the past four weeks. It has expected earnings growth rate of 4.5% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 0.4% in the last 30 days.

Anika Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:ANIK) provides orthopedic medicines for patients with degenerative orthopedic diseases and traumatic conditions in the United States and internationally. It develops, manufactures, and commercializes therapeutic products based on its proprietary hyaluronic acid technology.

The stock has gained 6.9% in the past four weeks. It has expected earnings growth of 37.8% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year has improved by 0.6% in 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.

NetEase, Inc. (NTES): Free Stock Analysis Report

KB Home (KBH): Free Stock Analysis Report

Taylor Morrison Home Corporation (TMHC): Free Stock Analysis Report

Anika Therapeutics Inc. (ANIK): Free Stock Analysis Report

Crocs, Inc. (CROX): Free Stock Analysis Report

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Zacks Investment Research