Buy These 5 Low-Beta Stocks to Combat the Choppy Market
Investors are weighing both, rolling out of coronavirus vaccines and rapidly rising infections, making the market extremely volatile. Despite the effective vaccines and optimism over increased spending by Democrats post-inauguration, there remain widespread uncertainties, at least for the foreseeable period.
Hence, creating a portfolio of low-beta stocks is of utmost importance since the securities can not only deliver healthy returns but also provide a shield against the choppy market.
Beta Understanding
Beta measures the volatility or risk of a particular asset in comparison to the market. In other words, beta measures the extent of a security’s price movement relative to the market. In this article, we are considering the S&P 500 as the market.
If a stock has beta of 1, then the price of the stock will move with the market. So, the stock is more volatile than the market if its beta is more than 1. In the same way, the stock is not as volatile as the market if its beta is less than 1.
For example, if the market offers a return of 20%, a stock with beta of 3 will return 60%, which is overwhelming. Similarly, when the market slips 20%, the stock will sink 60%, which is devastating.
Screening Criteria:
We have taken beta between 0 and 0.6 as our prime criterion for screening stocks that are less volatile than the market. However, this should not be the only factor to be considered while selecting a winning strategy. We need to take into account other parameters as well that can add value to the portfolio.
Percentage Change in Price in the Last 4 Weeks greater than zero: This ensures that the stocks saw positive price movement over the last month.
Average 20 Day Volume greater than 50,000: A substantial trading volume ensures that the stocks are easily tradable.
Price greater than or equal to $5: They must all be trading at a minimum of $5 or higher.
Zacks Rank equal to 1: Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks indicate that they will significantly outperform the broader U.S. equity market over the next one to three months. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Here are four stocks that qualified the screening:
Headquartered in Anoka, MN, Vista Outdoor Inc. VSTO is a leading manufacturer of consumer products that target recreation and sports markets. The company has witnessed upward earnings estimate revisions for fiscal 2021 in the past 30 days.
Meridian Bioscience, Inc. VIVO, headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, the company is primarily involved in manufacturing diagnostic test kits for the diagnosis of gastrointestinal and respiratory infectious diseases. For fiscal 2021, the stock has seen upward earnings estimate revisions in the past 30 days.
Owens & Minor, Inc. OMI, headquartered in Richmond, VA, the company primarily operates as a healthcare services company. In 2021, the stock is likely to see earnings growth of 16.5%.
Lakeland Industries, Inc. LAKE is primarily involved in manufacturing protective garments to protect people from hazardous chemicals, fire and diseases. In fiscal 2021, the stock is likely to see earnings growth of 809%.
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.
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
Owens & Minor, Inc. (OMI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Meridian Bioscience Inc. (VIVO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Lakeland Industries, Inc. (LAKE) : Free Stock Analysis Report
Vista Outdoor Inc. (VSTO) : Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
