The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq touched fresh heights to start the week and both indexes broke yet another set of new highs on Tuesday, while the Dow continued its journey higher to come within touching distance of its previous records.
The positivity comes ahead of the Federal Reserve’s annual economic policy meeting later this week. Wall Street also appears happy the FDA gave the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine full approval, which many hope will encourage more people to get the vaccine.
Last week, Walmart (NYSE:WMT), Target (NYSE:TGT), and many other retail giants posted solid quarterly financials, highlighting the strength of the consumer-driven U.S. economy. Plus, weekly jobless claims hit their lowest levels since March 2020. On top of that, the overall earnings picture continues to improve (also read: Strong Retail Sector Earnings).
The market could always experience some near-term selling since the mid-July pullback was wiped out so quickly. Yet, the interest rate environment will continue to favor stocks for the foreseeable future even if the Fed starts to raise them off rock-bottom levels sooner than expected.
The strong earnings season helped support the broader bullish case for the remainder of 2021 and beyond. Utilizing our ‘First Profit’ screener could be a solid way to help find strong stocks to consider buying heading into the fall…
First Profit
The idea is to search for companies that recently reported their first quarterly profit. More specifically, the screen searches for firms that just posted their first profit last quarter, after not posting a profit for at least the previous four quarters.
Finding companies that recently reported their first profits help investors find stocks that can prove to be big winners. These companies may vary widely. Some of the firms might be new, and this recent profit is perhaps the only profit in its short history.
Meanwhile, other companies might have held an impressive and long history of quarterly profitability, but for whatever reason haven't seen a profit in a while. Therefore, the return to profit could spark a turning point that management had promised or Wall Street had been clamoring for.
The concept is relatively simple: if the trend has been one of improvement, there is a solid chance the trend will continue. This is true whether a company has been profitable, or is just reaching that key inflection point.
And that’s what we are screening for today…
• EPS for the previous 4 Quarters less than or equal to 0
(This means in each of the previous 4 quarters (except the most recently reported quarter) the company has reported earnings of less than or equal to zero, i.e., no profit.)
• EPS for the recently reported quarter greater than 0
(This time, the company reported earnings greater than zero, meaning they finally showed a profit.)
• Current Price greater than or equal to 5
(Stocks that are trading for less than $5 are more speculative.)
The screen is pretty simple, yet powerful. Here are three of the roughly 100 stocks that made it through this week's screen…
Uber Technologies (NYSE:UBER), Inc. UBER
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. MARA
The Boeing Company (NYSE:BA) BA
Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start looking for the newest companies that fit these criteria. It's easy to do. And it could help you find your next big winner. Start screening for these companies today with a free trial to the Research Wizard. You can do it.
Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.
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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/.
Bitcoin, Like the Internet Itself, Could Change Everything
Blockchain and cryptocurrency has sparked one of the most exciting discussion topics of a generation. Some call it the “Internet of Money” and predict it could change the way money works forever. If true, it could do to banks what Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) did to Blockbuster and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) did to Sears. Experts agree we’re still in the early stages of this technology, and as it grows, it will create several investing opportunities.
Zacks’ has just revealed 3 companies that can help investors capitalize on the explosive profit potential of Bitcoin and the other cryptocurrencies with significantly less volatility than buying them directly.
See 3 Crypto-Related Stocks Now >>Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
The Boeing Company (BA): Free Stock Analysis Report
Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. (MARA): Free Stock Analysis Report
Uber Technologies, Inc. (UBER): Free Stock Analysis Report
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