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5 Top Stocks with Upgraded Broker Ratings to Bet On

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Market sentiments have been fairly positive in the past several days. While it indicates that fresh investments could be profitable, one could end up buying overvalued stocks.

Wondering how to choose the right stocks? One way is to follow rating upgrades by brokers.  

As brokers directly communicate with the top management, they have in-depth idea about what’s happening in a particular company. Further, they diligently go through the company’s publicly available documents and even attend conference calls.

Moreover, brokers have a thorough understanding of the overall sector and industry. They place the company fundamentals against the current economic backdrop to figure out how the stock will fare as an investment.

Hence, when brokers upgrade a stock, you can rely on their judgment. But solely depending on broker upgrades is not a good way to build your investment portfolio. Several other factors should be taken into consideration to ensure steady returns.

Picking the Winning Strategy

We have a screening strategy that will help in your search for potential winners:

Broker Rating Upgrades (4 weeks): The screen selects stocks that have witnessed broker rating upgrades over the last four weeks.

Current Price greater than 5: The stocks must be trading above $5.

Average 20-day Volume greater than 100,000: A large trading volume guarantees that the stock is easily tradable.

Zacks Rank equal to #1: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven record of success. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

VGM Score equal to A: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential.

Here are five of the 10 stocks that made it through the screen:

Headquartered in New Braunfels, TX, Rush Enterprises, Inc. (RUSHA - Free Report) operates as an integrated retailer of commercial vehicles and related services in the United States. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 6.1%. The stock has witnessed 3.9% upward revisions in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Nashville, TN -based Louisiana-Pacific Corporation (LPX - Free Report) manufactures and sells building products. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 66.3%. The stock has witnessed 19.8% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Tulsa, OK-based Alliance Resource Partners, L.P. (ARLP - Free Report) produces and markets coal primarily to utilities and industrial users in the U.S. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 25.7%. The stock has witnessed 8.3% upward revision in broker rating over the past four weeks.

Teradyne, Inc. (TER - Free Report) , headquartered in North Reading, MA, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells automatic test equipment worldwide. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 24.9%. The stock has witnessed 5.9% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

OraSure Technologies, Inc. (OSUR - Free Report) , based in Bethlehem, PA, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells oral fluid diagnostic products and specimen collection devices globally. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 123.5%. The stock has witnessed 14.3% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and backtesting software.

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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