Best Momentum Stocks to Buy for November 14th

Here are five stocks added to the Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) List today:

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. VNDA: This biopharmaceutical company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 34.7% over the last 60 days.

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. Price and Consensus

Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. price-consensus-chart | Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc. Quote

Townsquare Media, Inc. TSQ: This digital media and marketing solutions company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 10.3% over the last 60 days.

Townsquare Media, Inc. Price and Consensus

Townsquare Media, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Townsquare Media, Inc. Quote

Sappi Limited SPPJY: This wood fiber-based renewable resources company has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 13.7% over the last 60 days.

Sappi Ltd. Price and Consensus

Sappi Ltd. price-consensus-chart | Sappi Ltd. Quote

Vimeo, Inc. VMEO: This video software solutions provider has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 125% over the last 60 days.

Vimeo, Inc. Price and Consensus

Vimeo, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Vimeo, Inc. Quote

TrueBlue, Inc. TBI: This specialized workforce solutions provider has seen the Zacks Consensus Estimate for its current year earnings increasing 13.9% over the last 60 days.

TrueBlue, Inc. Price and Consensus

TrueBlue, Inc. price-consensus-chart | TrueBlue, Inc. Quote

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Zacks Investment Research

Five9 (FIVN) appears an attractive pick, as it has been recently upgraded to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). An upward trend in earnings estimates -- one of the most powerful forces impacting stock prices -- has triggered this rating change.

A company's changing earnings picture is at the core of the Zacks rating. The system tracks the Zacks Consensus Estimate -- the consensus measure of EPS estimates from the sell-side analysts covering the stock -- for the current and following years.

Individual investors often find it hard to make decisions based on rating upgrades by Wall Street analysts, since these are mostly driven by subjective factors that are hard to see and measure in real time. In these situations, the Zacks rating system comes in handy because of the power of a changing earnings picture in determining near-term stock price movements.

As such, the Zacks rating upgrade for Five9 is essentially a positive comment on its earnings outlook that could have a favorable impact on its stock price.

Most Powerful Force Impacting Stock Prices

The change in a company's future earnings potential, as reflected in earnings estimate revisions, and the near-term price movement of its stock are proven to be strongly correlated. The influence of institutional investors has a partial contribution to this relationship, as these big professionals use earnings and earnings estimates to calculate the fair value of a company's shares. An increase or decrease in earnings estimates in their valuation models simply results in higher or lower fair value for a stock, and institutional investors typically buy or sell it. Their bulk investment action then leads to price movement for the stock.

Fundamentally speaking, rising earnings estimates and the consequent rating upgrade for Five9 imply an improvement in the company's underlying business. Investors should show their appreciation for this improving business trend by pushing the stock higher.

Harnessing the Power of Earnings Estimate Revisions

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock movements, so it could be truly rewarding if such revisions are tracked for making an investment decision. Here is where the tried-and-tested Zacks Rank stock-rating system plays an important role, as it effectively harnesses the power of earnings estimate revisions.

The Zacks Rank stock-rating system, which uses four factors related to earnings estimates to classify stocks into five groups, ranging from Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) to Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive externally-audited track record, with Zacks Rank #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Earnings Estimate Revisions for Five9

This provider of cloud-based software to call centers is expected to earn $2.28 per share for the fiscal year ending December 2024, which represents a year-over-year change of 11.2%.

Analysts have been steadily raising their estimates for Five9. Over the past three months, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the company has increased 205.9%.

Bottom Line

Unlike the overly optimistic Wall Street analysts whose rating systems tend to be weighted toward favorable recommendations, the Zacks rating system maintains an equal proportion of 'buy' and 'sell' ratings for its entire universe of more than 4000 stocks at any point in time. Irrespective of market conditions, only the top 5% of the Zacks-covered stocks get a 'Strong Buy' rating and the next 15% get a 'Buy' rating. So, the placement of a stock in the top 20% of the Zacks-covered stocks indicates its superior earnings estimate revision feature, making it a solid candidate for producing market-beating returns in the near term.

The upgrade of Five9 to a Zacks Rank #1 positions it in the top 5% of the Zacks-covered stocks in terms of estimate revisions, implying that the stock might move higher in the near term.

Zacks Investment Research

Five9 (FIVN) closed the last trading session at $39.27, gaining 29.1% over the past four weeks, but there could be plenty of upside left in the stock if short-term price targets set by Wall Street analysts are any guide. The mean price target of $52.39 indicates a 33.4% upside potential.

The mean estimate comprises 18 short-term price targets with a standard deviation of $8.71. While the lowest estimate of $40 indicates a 1.9% increase from the current price level, the most optimistic analyst expects the stock to surge 70.6% to reach $67. It's very important to note the standard deviation here, as it helps understand the variability of the estimates. The smaller the standard deviation, the greater the agreement among analysts.

While the consensus price target is highly sought after by investors, the ability and unbiasedness of analysts in setting price targets have long been questionable. And investors making investment decisions solely based on this tool would arguably do themselves a disservice.

But, for FIVN, an impressive average price target is not the only indicator of a potential upside. Strong agreement among analysts about the company's ability to report better earnings than they predicted earlier strengthens this view. While a positive trend in earnings estimate revisions doesn't gauge how much a stock could gain, it has proven to be powerful in predicting an upside.

Here's What You May Not Know About Analysts' Price Targets

According to researchers at several universities across the globe, a price target is one of many pieces of information about a stock that misleads investors far more often than it guides. In fact, empirical research shows that price targets set by several analysts, irrespective of the extent of agreement, rarely indicate where the price of a stock could actually be heading.

While Wall Street analysts have deep knowledge of a company's fundamentals and the sensitivity of its business to economic and industry issues, many of them tend to set overly optimistic price targets. Are you wondering why?

They usually do that to drum up interest in shares of companies that their firms either have existing business relationships with or are looking to be associated with. In other words, business incentives of firms covering a stock often result in inflated price targets set by analysts.

However, a tight clustering of price targets, which is represented by a low standard deviation, indicates that analysts have a high degree of agreement about the direction and magnitude of a stock's price movement. While that doesn't necessarily mean the stock will hit the average price target, it could be a good starting point for further research aimed at identifying the potential fundamental driving forces.

That said, while investors should not entirely ignore price targets, making an investment decision solely based on them could lead to disappointing ROI. So, price targets should always be treated with a high degree of skepticism.

Here's Why There Could be Plenty of Upside Left in FIVN

There has been increasing optimism among analysts lately about the company's earnings prospects, as indicated by strong agreement among them in revising EPS estimates higher. And that could be a legitimate reason to expect an upside in the stock. After all, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For the current year, two estimates have moved higher over the last 30 days compared to no negative revision. As a result, the Zacks Consensus Estimate has increased 205.9%.

Moreover, FIVN currently has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), which means it is in the top 5% of more than the 4,000 stocks that we rank based on four factors related to earnings estimates. Given an impressive externally-audited track record, this is a more conclusive indication of the stock's potential upside in the near term. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here

Therefore, while the consensus price target may not be a reliable indicator of how much FIVN could gain, the direction of price movement it implies does appear to be a good guide.

Zacks Investment Research