Today I’m going to go over a simple screen with a powerful concept. Buying stocks that are making new highs. I know some are reluctant to stocks making new 52-week highs. If you’re one of them, have you ever asked yourself why? If a stock is making a new 52-week high, isn’t that a good thing? Just like a stock making a new 52-week low is bad thing. I’m pretty sure that a person who dislikes buying stocks making new 52-week highs wouldn’t be too upset if the stock he already owned broke out to new 52-week high. And why should he? Statistics have shown that stocks making new highs have a tendency of making even higher highs. These are the stocks we all dream about. Get in and watch it continue going up.
Of course the fundamentals need to be there. And you should keep a watchful eye on valuations. But if you were in a stock making new highs and cheering it on, it seems silly to be afraid of one doing the same just because you haven’t bought it.
One question I like asking myself just to put things into perspective is: if I was in it, would I be excited and would I still want to be in it? If the answer is yes, then I’ll look for the best opportunity to get in. If the answer is no, I’d want to take profits, then I’ll move on.
This topic actually reminds me of a question someone asked me a while ago about a stock I was talking about that was at a new 52-week high – in fact, it was at a 5-year high. He asked, “Aren’t you worried about buying a stock at a 52-week high?” I said of course not. So it just made a new 52-week high. That’s great news! Guess what — last year it made a new 52-week high as well. And the year before that. And the year before that. Can you imagine all the money you’d be leaving on the table if you were afraid of being in stocks every time they made a new high? Case closed. 
The screen I’m running today looks for:
* Stock trading within 5% of their 52 week high. The expression looks like this:
Current Price/52 Week high >= .95
That means these stocks are either at a new 52-week high, or have just hit it and still trading within 5% of it, or are climbing towards their 52-week high and are within striking distance.
* Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2
Only Zacks Strong Buys and Buys.
* Price to less than or equal to 1
A Price to ratio of 1 means you’re paying $1 for every $1 of a company makes. A P/S ratio of less than 1 means you’re paying less than $1 for every $1 of a company makes. I have found that by looking at stocks with a P/S ratio of less than or equal to 1 helps me find stocks that are still considered undervalued -– even if they are making new highs.
* Current Avg. 20 Day Volume > Previous week’s Avg. 20 Day Volume
In short, this helps me find stocks where the volume has increased in the recent week vs. the previous week. If the price is climbing on increased volume, that shows increased demand or buying coming in. And the more buying demand there is for a stock, the more it should climb.
* All of these parameters are applied to stocks >= $5 with Avg. daily volume of >= 100,000.
Here are 5 stocks that made it thru this week’s screen for 12/29/09:
AIN – Albany International Corp.
CAG – ConAgra Foods, Inc.
FUL – H.B. Fuller Company
ODSY – Odyssey HealthCare, Inc.
UVV – Universal Corp.
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.
Kevin Matras is the Research Wizard Product Manager and weekly contributing Editor at Zacks Investment Research who creates and writes the Zacks Commentary Screen of the Week and Know Your Options. For more information, visit Article Source: