3 Stocks With Recent Price Strength Despite a Tumultuous March

U.S. stock markets have been witnessing a downturn in the last two months following concerns about the continuation of artificial intelligence (AI) trade and the breakout of war in the Middle East. The geopolitical conflicts between the U.S.-Israel joint force and Iran resulted in soaring crude oil and natural gas prices.

In March, the broad market index – S&P 500 – tumbled 5.1%, marking its worst monthly performance since 2022. The blue-chip Dow plummeted 5.4%, terminating a 10-month winning run and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 4.8%.
Consequently, just a few stocks have shown price strength. We have primarily targeted stocks that have recently been on a bull run. These stocks have a high chance of carrying the momentum forward.

Three such stocks are — Cardinal Infrastructure Group Inc. CDNL, BrainsWay Ltd. BWAY and Century Aluminum Co. CENX.

If a stock is continuously witnessing an uptrend, there must be a solid reason or it would have probably crashed. So, looking at stocks capable of beating the benchmark that they have set for themselves seems rational.

However, recent price strength alone cannot create magic. Therefore, other relevant parameters are needed to create a successful investment strategy.

Here’s how you should create the screen to shortlist the current as well as the potential winners.

Screening Parameters:

Percentage Change in Price (4 Weeks) greater than zero: This criterion shows that the stock has moved higher in the last four weeks.

Percentage Change Price (12 Weeks) greater than 10: This indicates that the stock has seen momentum over the last three months. This lowers the risk of choosing stocks that may have drawn attention due to the overwhelming performance of the overall market in a very short period.

Zacks Rank 1: No matter whether market conditions are good or bad, stocks with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) have a proven history of outperformance. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Average Broker Rating 1: This indicates that brokers are also highly hopeful about the stock’s future performance.

Current Price greater than 5: The stocks must all be trading at a minimum of $5.

Current Price/ 52-Week High-Low Range more than 85%: This criterion filters stocks that are trading near their respective 52-week highs. It indicates that these are strong enough in terms of price.

Just these few criteria narrowed down the search from over 7,700 stocks to four.

Let’s discuss three out of those four stocks here:

Cardinal Infrastructure Group is a full-service turnkey infrastructure service company. CDNL provides infrastructure services to the residential, commercial, industrial, municipal, and state infrastructure markets in the United States. CDNL offers wet utility installations, such as water, sewer, and stormwater systems, as well as grading, site clearing, erosion control, drilling and blasting, paving, and other related site services.

The stock price of CDNL has jumped 25.6% over the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 51.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 29.1% over the last 30 days.

BrainsWay is a commercial-stage medical device company operating in the United States, East Asia, and internationally. BWAY serves doctors, hospitals, and medical centers in the field of psychiatry.

BWAY is focused on the development and sale of non-invasive neuromodulation products using its proprietary Deep Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation technology for the treatment of major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The stock price of BWAY has climbed 14.7% over the past four weeks. The company has expected earnings growth of -13.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 14.8% over the last 30 days.

Century Aluminum is well-positioned to capitalize on tightening global aluminum fundamentals as demand growth continues to outpace supply, supported by resilient U.S. manufacturing activity and improving macro conditions. The increase in U.S. Section 232 tariffs has strengthened CENX’s Midwest premiums and reinforced domestic pricing power, encouraging supply-chain reshoring.

The restart of the remaining 50,000 MT at Mt. Holly, expected to reach full production by second-quarter 2026, will further expand CENX’s U.S. primary capacity. Jamalco enhances vertical integration, boosts raw material security, supports margin expansion through operational efficiencies, and drives self-sufficiency initiatives.

The stock price of CENX has surged 10.9% over the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 100% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 42.1% over the last 60 days.

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Century Aluminum Company (CENX): Free Stock Analysis Report

Brainsway Ltd. Sponsored ADR (BWAY): Free Stock Analysis Report

Cardinal Infrastructure Group Inc. (CDNL): Free Stock Analysis Report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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