Though volatility will continue to play foul with Wall Street, the recent surge in oil prices and tech sector renewed some confidence in the riskier assets.
Crude oil topped the $70-per-barrel mark for the first time since November 2014 thanks to Iran sanction worries, falling Venezuela production, historic output cut deal and higher demand. The rally in the commodity has spread major optimism in the energy sector, pushing many stocks to new highs.
Meanwhile, the technology sector has been powered by a spate of earnings releases from the major players, especially Apple (AAPL – Free Report) . This is because shares of AAPL are riding higher at the fastest pace in over nine years, logging in the longest six-day winning streak since Mar 17, 2009, skyrocketing 14.1%. The stock has scaled multiple highs surpassing $185 for the first time on May 7 and is heading toward a record trillion-dollar market value.
Additionally, stronger-than-expected earnings are providing the biggest catalyst. Notably, Q1 earnings season is on track to record its best quarter in seven years with earnings expected to be up 23.2% on revenue growth of 8.7%. This is much higher than 13.4% earnings growth and 8.1% revenue growth recorded in Q4.
Given the positive developments, momentum investing would be a winning strategy for those seeking higher returns in a short spell. This is because the strategy looks to fetch profits from buying hot stocks that have shown an uptrend over the past few weeks or months.
How to Pick Right Stocks?
Handpicking momentum stocks has now become a fairly simple task thanks to the Zacks Momentum Score which indicates the favorable time to enter a stock to take advantage of the momentum with the highest probability of success. Our research shows that stocks with a Momentum Style Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential with a stronger momentum effect.
Hence, we have used the Zacks Stock Screener to find out the best stocks in the momentum space. The parameters include a Momentum Score of A, and a Zacks Rank #1 or 2. Further, we have narrowed down the list to locate stocks with below-industry P/E and P/B ratios, and a top Zacks industry rank (top 40%).
