While “the trend is your friend” when it comes to short-term investing or trading, timing entries into the trend is a key determinant of success. And increasing the odds of success by making sure the sustainability of a trend isn’t easy.

Often, the direction of a stock’s price movement reverses quickly after taking a position in it, making investors incur a short-term capital loss. So, it’s important to ensure that there are enough factors — such as sound fundamentals, positive earnings estimate revisions, etc. — that could keep the momentum in the stock going.

Investors looking to make a profit from stocks that are currently on the move may find our “Recent Price Strength” screen pretty useful. This predefined screen comes handy in spotting stocks that are on an uptrend backed by strength in their fundamentals, and trading in the upper portion of their 52-week high-low range, which is usually an indicator of bullishness.

Internet Initiative Japan

IIJIY is one of the several suitable candidates that passed through the screen. Here are the key reasons why it could be a profitable bet for “trend” investors.

A solid price increase over a period of 12 weeks reflects investors’ continued willingness to pay more for the potential upside in a stock. IIJIY is quite a good fit in this regard, gaining 49.6% over this period.

However, it’s not enough to look at the price change for around three months, as it doesn’t reflect any trend reversal that might have happened in a shorter time frame. It’s important for a potential winner to maintain the price trend. A price increase of 15.3% over the past four weeks ensures that the trend is still in place for the stock of this internet service provider.

Moreover, IIJIY is currently trading at 93.5% of its 52-week High-Low Range, hinting that it can be on the verge of a breakout.

Looking at the fundamentals, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), which means it is in the top 20% of more than the 4,000 stocks that we rank based on trends in earnings estimate revisions and EPS surprises — the key factors that impact a stock’s near-term price movements.

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.

Another factor that confirms the company’s fundamental strength is its Average Broker Recommendation of #1 (Strong Buy). This indicates that the brokerage community is highly optimistic about the stock’s near-term price performance.

So, the price trend in IIJIY may not reverse anytime soon.

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