I’ve asked myself the same question over and over in recent months…
What the heck are they waiting for?
I’m talking about Wall Street analysts.
I like to pick on these analysts because… well, they kind of make it easy. How on Earth are these folks behind the curve so often on great fundamental stocks?
Whatever the reason, I’ve stressed before that we can’t always rely on Wall Street to help us get an edge. But as investors, we can take advantage of these analysts’ missteps…
You see, the Power Gauge highlights analysts’ behavior through a couple of its factors. And as I’ll explain today, we can take our research a step further to search for “bullish” setups.
Through this approach, the Power Gauge points to buying opportunities in dozens of stocks right now. And today, we’ll cover one stock in particular that’s already breaking out…
First, let’s briefly review the Power Gauge…
Chaikin Analytics founder Marc Chaikin developed this system a little more than a decade ago. It includes 20 factors in four categories – Financials, Earnings, Technicals, and Experts. And using a proprietary weighting system, it gives an overall grade to thousands of stocks.
Besides these basics, the system also provides a technical overlay. And ultimately, this technical overlay can help us identify “bullish” and “bearish” trends as they’re developing.
It gets even better…
In the Power Gauge, we created a “stock screener” that allows folks to find opportunities using certain criteria. For example, Power Gauge users can search for stocks with low price-to-sales ratios, high return on equity, excess free cash flow, and much more.
Within the Experts category, two of the five factors focus on analysts’ activity. They’re called “earnings estimate trend” and “analyst rating trend.”
Now, the data behind these factors can get a little confusing. Today, you just need to know that they track analysts’ behavior. And you can probably guess where I’m going next…
I recently put together a Power Gauge screen to find stocks that the analysts are missing.
Specifically, I looked for stocks with “bullish” or better ratings in the Financials and Earnings categories. They also needed to have “bearish” or worse ratings for the analyst rating trend factor. And I made sure they were all in the market’s strongest sectors or industry groups.
That last part is important. If you can consistently find strong stocks in strong sectors or industry groups, you’ll increase your odds of investment success over the long run.
When I ran this screen late last week, it produced 43 “bullish” opportunities. One of these opportunities is mortgage insurer Essent (ESNT)…
It doesn’t seem to matter that interest rates are on the rise. The Power Gauge shows that Essent has strong fundamentals. Just look at the Financials and Earnings categories…
Now, you’ll also notice that the analyst rating trend is “very bearish”…
Here’s where the opportunity comes in…
Notice in the Experts category that short interest is “very bullish.” That means not a lot of folks are betting against this stock right now. And it’s further proof of this stock’s strength.
With all that in mind… the next catalyst will likely be Wall Street analysts playing catch-up.
You see, the Power Gauge upgraded Essent to “very bullish” in mid-December. At the time, the stock traded for about $38 per share. It trades for around $42.50 per share today.
That’s already a gain of roughly 12% in two months. And the “bullish” setup is still intact.
Folks, it doesn’t get better than this…
The Power Gauge helps us see the full picture. It allows us to see stocks’ true potential well before analysts catch on… in real time… and in all types of sectors and industries.
Wall Street simply can’t compete with that.
Good investing,
Pete Carmasino
