The last time I talked about this strategy was back in 2009.
Prior to that, it was featured in October 2007, right before the
bear market hit.
When I talked about it then, this strategy had shown an average
annual return of 72.7% per year going all the way back to 2000
(2000 thru Sept. 2007 - nearly 8 years at that time).
2008, as you might have guessed, was a tough year. But that's part
of trading.
There will always be challenges along the way. However, using a
proven profitable strategy can give you the confidence to stick
with it, knowing that the odds of success are in your favor.
A proven profitable strategy is, of course, different than a box of
magic. Nothing will ever preclude you from having another losing
trade. But following sound and tested stock-picking rules can help
you beat the market over and over again.
2009 to 2012
So how has it done since the last time I talked about it in 2009?
Clearly, looking at how well it's done, I should have trotted this
one out a few times since then. Although, I did write about it in
my book
Finding #1 Stocks
in 2011.
But for those who missed it, here you go: between 2009 and Oct.
2012, using a 1 week holding period, this strategy showed an
average annual return of 35.7% vs. the S&P's 13.7%.
That's more than 2.6x the S&P 500. And you only needed to hold
5 stocks at a time.
It's a pretty easy strategy to trade. But you will be rebalancing
your portfolio weekly. So if you're an active trader, you'll love
it.
Even if you're not, seeing the stocks that it picks is exciting to
watch.
Parameters
There are three items that go into this screen:
-
Zacks Rank equal to 1
As you know, the Zacks Rank is one of the best ranking systems
out there. Over the last 26 years, the Zacks #1 Rank stocks have
shown an average annual return of over 26% a year. This screen
starts off by focusing in on these.
-
% Change Current Quarter Estimates over 4 Weeks greater
than 0
This item is important because, while the Zacks Rank already
looks at the Current Year's Estimate Revisions and Next Year's
Estimate Revisions, this added component looks at the more
immediate future, which is the Current Quarter. And by saying
greater than zero, we're excluding any company with a negative
revision.
-
% Change in the Average Broker Rating over 1 Week equal
to Top # 5
This means I'm looking for the 5 stocks with the biggest or best
change in their average broker rating. In other words, brokers
have been upgrading the stocks. While I don't really follow
broker recommendations, per se', since I believe they're skewed
to the upside, I do like to see the change in the rating. Are
these guys getting more bullish or less bullish? This is good to
know. So I want to make sure the average broker rating has gotten
better, or at least not gotten worse, over the last week.
Combined, these three items produce some very powerful results.
This strategy comes loaded with the Research Wizard and is
called: bt_sow_filtered zacks rank2. It can be found in the SoW
(Screen of the Week) folder.
Here are three of the stocks that qualified the Filtered Zacks
Rank2 strategy for 11/6/2012:
STC
- Stewart Information Services Corp.
TFX
- Teleflex Inc.
TIS
- Orchids Paper Products Co.
Get the rest of the stocks on this list and start trading the
Filtered Zacks Rank2 (or any of our other strategies) in your own
account. Remember, the key to successful screening is in
discovering those screens that have produced profitable results in
the past. That's exactly what you get with the Research Wizard
stock picking and backtesting program.
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:
http://www.zacks.com/performance
.
STEWART INFO SV (STC): Free Stock Analysis
Report
TELEFLEX INC (TFX): Free Stock Analysis Report
ORCHIDS PAPER (TIS): Free Stock Analysis Report
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