5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength Amid Uncertainty
Wall Street wrapped up 2022 as the worst year since 2008, terminating a three-year winning streak. Major stock indexes suffered a bloody blow last year. The Dow fell 8.8% year over year and 10.3% from its record high. The S&P 500 tumbled 19.4% year over year and more than 20% from its all-time high. The Nasdaq Composite plummeted 33.1% year over year and 32.9% from its all-time high.
Inflation is still stuck at its 40-year high level. This is due to the pandemic-led destruction of the global supply-chain system and strong demand from U.S. citizens due to unprecedented fiscal and monetary stimuli, aggressive interest rate hikes by major central banks led by the Fed, lockdown in China due to the resurgence of COVID-19 infections and geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine that rattled the global financial world last year.
U.S. stock markets started 2023 with huge fluctuations. Volatility is likely to continue in January as market participants will keenly watch the major economic data of December 2022. Moreover, the next FOMC meeting of the Fed will start on Feb 1, which would lead the foundation of the central bank’s policies for 2023.
However, defying recent volatility, a handful of stocks have shown price strength. These stocks are likely to gain in the near term and are backed by a favorable Zacks Rank. Five of them are Expro Group Holdings N.V. XPRO, Asure Software Inc. ASUR, Luna Innovations Inc. LUNA, Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. BWMN and Perion Network Ltd. PERI.
Here’s How We Arrived at the Picks
We have primarily targeted stocks that have freshly been on a bull run. 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 it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.
However, recent price strength alone cannot create magic. Therefore, other relevant parameters are needed 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 search from over 7,700 stocks to 21.
Let’s discuss five out of these 21 stocks:
Expro Group is engaged in the provision of energy services in North and Latin America, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, and the Asia-Pacific. XPRO provides well construction services, such as technology solutions in drilling, tubular running services, and cementing and tubulars; and well management services, including well flow management, subsea well access, and well intervention and integrity services.
The stock price of XPRO has jumped 26.8% in the past four weeks. Expro Group has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate current-year earnings has improved 15.2% over the last 30 days.
Asure Software provides cloud-based human capital management and workspace management solutions worldwide. ASUR offers Web-based workforce management solutions that enable organizations to manage their office environment, as well as their human resource and payroll processes.
The stock price of Asure Software has climbed 26.2% in the past four weeks. ASUR has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 27.3% over the last 60 days.
Luna Innovations develops and manufactures new-generation products for the healthcare, telecommunications, energy and defense markets. LUNA develops technologies in four primary areas: Sensors & Systems, Health Sciences, Materials & Secure Computing. LUNA's product offerings generally fit into two categories: Instrumentation, Test & Measurement & Healthcare. The products are used to measure, monitor, protect and improve critical processes in the markets we serve
The stock price Luna Innovations has surged 21.6% in the past four weeks. LUNA has an expected earnings growth rate of 57.1% for next year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next-year earnings has improved 0.1% over the last 30 days.
Bowman Consulting Group provides planning, engineering, construction management, commissioning, environmental consulting, geomatics, survey, land procurement and other technical services to customers operating in a diverse set of regulated end markets.
The stock price of Bowman Consulting Group has advanced 13.3% in the past four weeks. BWMN has an expected earnings growth rate of 54% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for next-year earnings has improved 24.2% over the last 60 days.
Perion Network is a global technology company that delivers online advertising solutions and search monetization to brands and publishers. PERI is committed to providing data-driven execution, from high-impact ad formats to branded search and a unified social and mobile programmatic platform. PERI’s largest divisions are Undertone and CodeFuel.
The stock price of Perion Network has rallied 10.2% in the past four weeks. PERI has an expected earnings growth rate of 3% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 0.1% over 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.
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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.
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Asure Software Inc (ASUR) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Perion Network Ltd (PERI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Luna Innovations Incorporated (LUNA) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Bowman Consulting Group Ltd. (BWMN) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Expro Group Holdings N.V. (XPRO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
