When it comes to short-term investing or trading, they say “the trend is your friend.” And there’s no denying that this is the most profitable strategy. But making sure of the sustainability of a trend to profit from it is easier said than done.
The trend often reverses before exiting the trade, leading to a short-term capital loss for investors. So, for a profitable trade, one should confirm factors such as sound fundamentals, positive earnings estimate revisions, etc. that could keep the momentum in the stock alive.
Our “Recent Price Strength” screen, which is created on a unique short-term trading strategy, could be pretty useful in this regard. This predefined screen makes it really easy to shortlist the stocks that have enough fundamental strength to maintain their recent uptrend. Also, the screen passes only the stocks that are trading in the upper portion of their 52-week high-low range, which is usually an indicator of bullishness.
Standard Motor Products (SMP) is one of the several suitable candidates that passed through the screen. Here are the key reasons why it could be a profitable bet for “trend” investors.
A solid price increase over a period of 12 weeks reflects investors’ continued willingness to pay more for the potential upside in a stock. SMP is quite a good fit in this regard, gaining 0.2% over this period.
However, it’s not enough to look at the price change for around three months, as it doesn’t reflect any trend reversal that might have happened in a shorter time frame. It’s important for a potential winner to maintain the price trend. A price increase of 0.3% over the past four weeks ensures that the trend is still in place for the stock of this auto parts maker.
Moreover, SMP is currently trading at 81.3% of its 52-week High-Low Range, hinting that it can be on the verge of a breakout.
Looking at the fundamentals, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which means it is in the top 20% of more than the 4,000 stocks that we rank based on trends in earnings estimate revisions and EPS surprises — the key factors that impact a stock’s near-term price movements.
The Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>