Grab These Stocks With Momentum Anomaly for Better Returns

Warren Buffett once said that it is wise for investors to be “fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.” Going by that, depressed market conditions provide the best opportunities for investors willing to take a risk as stocks at a discounted price have the potential to soar when markets recover.

Reacting hastily to volatile trends can cause more damage to an investor’s portfolio returns in the short term than an actual downturn. Ideally, one should stick with long-term investing strategies. When value or growth investing fails to fetch sustained profits, one should explore another time-tested winning strategy that simply bets on frontrunner stocks. This is known as momentum investing.

At the core, momentum investing is about buying high, selling higher. It is based on the idea that once a stock establishes a trend, it is likely to continue in that direction. There’s a whole list of behavioral biases that most investors exhibit. For instance, some investors are anxious about booking losses and hence hold on to losing stocks for too long, hoping for a rebound in prices.

Meanwhile, a few investors sell their winners way too early. Momentum investing is one of the best strategies to avoid such mistakes. So, it’s a way to profit from the general human tendency to extrapolate current trends into the future. Thus, momentum investing is based on that gap in time, which exists before the mean reversion occurs i.e. before prices become rational again.

Here, we have created a strategy that will help investors get in on these fast movers when there is a short-term pullback in price and rake in handsome gains.

Screening Parameters

Percentage Change in Price (52 Weeks) = Top #50: This selects the top 50 stocks with the best percentage price change over the last 52 weeks. This parameter ensures we get the best stocks that have appreciated steadily over the past year.

Percentage Change in Price (1 Week) = Bottom #10: From the above 50 stocks, we then choose those that are also among the 10 worst performers over a short one-week period. This parameter picks the ones that have witnessed a short-term pullback in price.

Zacks Rank #1: No matter whether it is a good market or bad, stocks sporting 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.

Momentum Style Score of B or better: While ensuring solid momentum features, a Momentum Score of A or B knocks out a lot of the screening process, as it takes into account several factors including volume change and relative performance. Stocks with a Momentum Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy), handily outperform other stocks.

Current Price greater than $5: The prices of the stocks should not be too low.

Market Capitalization = Top #3000: We have chosen stocks that are among the top 3000 in terms of market value to ensure the stability of price.

Average 20-Day Volume greater than 100,000: A substantial trading volume ensures that these stocks are easily tradable.

Here are four of the eight stocks that made it through this screen:

Teradyne, Inc. TER is a leader in semiconductor automated test solutions. The stock has gained 67.6% in the past year but has lost 1.6% in the past week. It has a Momentum Score of B.

Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, Logitech International S.A. LOGI makes products that help people connect to digital and cloud experiences. The stock has surged 88.3% in the past year and has a Momentum Score of B. Shares of the company have declined 0.3% in the past week.

Quidel Corporation QDEL provides diagnostic testing solutions, cellular-based virology assays and molecular diagnostic systems. The stock has skyrocketed 362.8% in the past year and has a Momentum Score of A. Shares of the company have lost 3.4% in the past week.

Headquartered in Winchester, VA, Trex Company, Inc. TREX is the world’s largest manufacturer of high-performance wood-alternative decking and railing. The stock has returned 70.1% in the past year but has lost 0.2% in the past week. It has a Momentum Score of A.

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 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.

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Logitech International S.A. (LOGI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Quidel Corporation (QDEL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Trex Company, Inc. (TREX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Teradyne, Inc. (TER) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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