5 Stocks With Upgraded Broker Ratings Worth Buying Right Now

Choosing stocks from the vast investment universe is not an easy task. For this, you need to understand the fundamentals of every company and try to place them against the present economic background to figure out how it fares as an investment.

One way to carry out this task is to follow broker recommendation. Brokers have insight into what’s happening at a particular company as they directly communicate with management. Further, they have a deeper understanding of the overall industry.

Precisely, brokers go through a company’s publicly available financial statements, listen to conference calls and engage in talks directly with the top brass. At times, they even talk to customers to gauge what they like or dislike about the products and services offered by the company.

Therefore, after thorough research, brokers decide to rate a particular company’s stock. Naturally, when an analyst upgrades a stock, you can easily rely on it.

Nonetheless, solely depending on analysts’ upgrades is not the correct way to build your investment portfolio. You should also take into consideration other factors to ensure solid returns.

Picking the Winning Strategy

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

Broker Rating Upgrades (4 weeks): The screen selects stocks that have witnessed broker rating upgrades over the last 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: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven record of success. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

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

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

Headquartered in Tampa, FL, WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (NYSE:WCG) offers managed care services for government-sponsored health care programs. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 59.2%. The stock witnessed 2.9% upward revisions in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Atlanta, GA based Aaron's Inc. (NYSE:AAN) operates as an omnichannel provider of lease-purchase solutions. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 10.6%. The stock witnessed 4.8% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

FreightCar America, Inc. (NASDAQ:RAIL) , headquartered in Chicago, IL, designs, manufactures, and sells railcars for the transportation of bulk commodities and containerized freight products. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 50.7%. The stock witnessed 13.3% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Headquartered in Wilmington, DE, The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) provides performance chemicals in North America, the Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 39.8%. The stock witnessed 10% upward revisions in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Ames, IA-based Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:REGI) produces and sells biofuels and renewable chemicals. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 13.4%. The stock witnessed 16.7% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

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

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Freightcar America, Inc. (RAIL): Free Stock Analysis Report

Chemours Company (The) (CC): Free Stock Analysis Report

Aaron's, Inc. (AAN): Free Stock Analysis Report

WellCare Health Plans, Inc. (WCG): Free Stock Analysis Report

Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REGI): Free Stock Analysis Report

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