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MARKETS LIVE BLOG:

STOCKS RISE AS DOW EYES GAIN FOR 8TH STRAIGHT SESSION

U.S. consumer sentiment tumbles in May as inflation, interest rate worries take hold

Investors Can Find Strong Stocks with our First Profit Screen

Benjamin Rains

The S&P 500 hit a new high for the first time in three months on Monday, amid interest rate cut hopes and U.S.-China trade war positivity. On top of that, third-quarter earnings season has reached a fever pitch, with results from tech giants such as Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and more all due out this week.

But today, we aren’t focusing on the giants. Instead, we are utilizing our ‘First Profit’ stock screen to help investors find strong stocks. The idea is to search for companies that just reported their first quarterly profit within the last year.

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, especially around earnings season.

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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 5 of the 25-plus stocks that made it through this week's screen…

CRISPR Therapeutics AG (CRSP)

Kosmos Energy Ltd. (KOS)

BRF S.A. (BRFS)

Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPRX)

Coherus BioSciences, Inc. (CHRS)

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.

Want more articles from this author? Scroll up to the top of this article and click the FOLLOW AUTHOR button to get an email each time a new article is published.

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/.

Zacks' Super Screen

It's hard to believe, even for us at Zacks. But from 2000-2018, while the market gained +4.8% per year, our top stock-picking strategy averaged +54.3% per year.

How has that screen done lately? From 2017-2018, it sextupled the market's +15.8% gain with a soaring +98.3% return.

Free – See the Stocks It Turned Up for Today >>


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
 
Kosmos Energy Ltd. (KOS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Facebook, Inc. (FB) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
CRISPR Therapeutics AG (CRSP) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Catalyst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (CPRX) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Coherus BioSciences, Inc. (CHRS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
BRF S.A. (BRFS) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
Apple Inc. (AAPL) : Free Stock Analysis Report
 
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Zacks Investment Research