Zacks.com featured highlights include Flowserve, Zions, Astronics and CommScope

For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 17, 2022 – Stocks in this week’s article are Flowserve FLS, Zions Bancorp. ZION, Astronics ATRO and CommScope COMM.

4 Stocks Trading Near 52-Week Highs with More Upside Potential

Investors generally consider a stock's 52-week high a good criterion for an entry or exit point. Stocks touching new 52-week highs are often predisposed to profit-taking, resulting in pullbacks and trend reversals.

Moreover, given the high price, investors often wonder if the stock is overpriced. While the speculation is not absolutely baseless, not all stocks hitting a 52-week high are necessarily overpriced.

Investors might lose out on top gainers in an attempt to avoid the steep prices.

Stocks such as Flowserve, Zions Bancorp., Astronics and CommScope are expected to maintain their momentum and keep scaling new highs. More information on a stock is necessary to determine whether there is scope for further upside.

Here, we discuss a strategy to find the right stocks. The technique borrows from the basics of momentum investing and bets on “buy high, sell higher.”

52-Week High: A Good Indicator

Many times, stocks that hit a 52-week high fail to scale higher despite having potential. This is because investors fear that the stocks are overvalued and expect the price to crash.

Overvaluation is natural for most of these stocks as investors’ focus (or willingness to pay the premium) has helped them reach this level. But that does not always indicate an impending decline. Factors such as robust sales, surging profit levels, earnings growth prospects and strategic acquisitions, which encouraged investors to bet on these stocks, could keep them motivated if there are no tangible negatives. In other words, the momentum might continue.

Also, when a string of positive developments dominates the market, investors find their underreaction unwarranted, even if there are no company-specific driving forces.

Here are our four picks out of the 22 stocks that made it through the screen:

Flowserve is benefiting from strength across its segments. The Flowserve Pump Division unit is particularly strong, driven by solid momentum in the aftermarket business. The increase in bookings across general industries and oil & gas end markets is aiding the Flow Control Division’s performance. Strength across end markets, along with Flowserve's Diversify, Decarbonize and Digitize (3D) strategy, is driving its booking levels.

The company expects significant chemical capacity additions in the Middle East and modest improvement in overall global chemical demand in the quarters ahead. Solid booking level in the power generation market is being driven by the growth in data center capacity and increasing Artificial Intelligence activity.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FLS’ 2025 earnings has moved north by 0.9% to $3.37 per share in the past 30 days. The company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and missed twice, the average surprise being 5.54%.

Zions Bancorporation is a diversified financial service provider, operating a widespread network of more than 400 branches. Zions has been opportunistically repurchasing shares. In February, the company approved a plan authorizing the buyback of up to $40 million worth of shares for 2025, which was completed in the first quarter. It intends to repurchase shares cautiously until it has further regulatory clarity on capital norms.

As of June 30, 2025, Zions’ common equity tier 1 capital ratio was 11%, up from 10.6% in the prior-year period. The company’s solid balance sheet and robust liquidity continue to underpin its financial stability and enhance shareholder value. It holds long-term issuer ratings of BBB+ from both Standard & Poor's and Fitch Ratings, and Baa2 from Moody’s Investors Service.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ZION’s 2025 earnings has remained steady at $5.78 per share in the past 30 days. Its earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 12.1%.

Astronics has been gaining momentum as global defense and commercial aerospace activity continues to expand. In the second quarter of 2025, its Aerospace unit’s sales reached a record $193.6 million, nearly 9% higher than last year, driven by growth in both commercial transport market sales and military aircraft sales, with the drivers being increased demand for cabin power products from airlines as well as heightened demand for light and safety products from military businesses.

On the other hand, the International Air Transport Association expects air travel demand to increase 5.8% year over year in 2025. No doubt, in line with this expected air passenger growth, airlines will continue to invest in improving cabin power access and enhancing in-flight connectivity, which, in turn, should serve as a key growth catalyst for ATRO.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATRO’s 2025 earnings has remained steady at $1.60 per share in the past 30 days. Its earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average surprise being 78.54%.

CommScope continues to benefit from stringent cost-cutting measures and a focus on core operations. The company is actively pruning its non-core businesses while focusing on inorganic growth to boost its portfolio strength and remain at the forefront of technological innovation by developing solutions to support wireline and wireless network convergence. It has completed the divestiture of its Home Networks business to Vantiva SA (formerly Technicolor SA) to focus more on core operations.

CommScope has further strengthened its portfolio by acquiring Casa Systems' Cable Business assets. The acquisition enhanced CommScope’s market-leading position in Access Network Solutions. Moreover, the company has revolutionized the way network operators scale their operations by launching the HX6-611-6WH/B antenna, which provides a high-capacity microwave backhaul solution to meet future network demands.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for COMM’s 2025 earnings has moved south by 0.8% to $1.29 per share in the past 30 days. The company’s earnings surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters and missed once, the average surprise being 98.3%.

Get the rest of the stocks on the list and start putting this and other ideas to the test. It can all be done with the Research Wizard stock picking and back-testing software.

The Research Wizard is a great place to begin. It's easy to use. Everything is in plain language. And it's very intuitive. Start your Research Wizard trial today. And the next time you read an economic report, open up the Research Wizard, plug your finds in, and see what gems come out.

Click here to sign up for a free trial to the Research Wizard today.

For the rest of this Screen of the Week article please visit Zacks.com at: https://www.zacks.com/stock/news/2752355/4-stocks-trading-near-52-week-high-with-more-upside-potential

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.

About Screen of the Week

Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web earning the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine.  But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why Zacks created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that investors can actively use.

Strong Stocks that Should Be in the News

Many are little publicized and fly under the Wall Street radar. They're virtually unknown to the general public. Yet today's 220 Zacks Rank #1 "Strong Buys" were generated by the stock-picking system that has more than doubled the market from 1988 through 2016. Its average gain has been a stellar +25% per year. See these high-potential stocks free >>.

Follow us on Twitter:  https://www.twitter.com/zacksresearch

Join us on Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ZacksInvestmentResearch

Zacks Investment Research is under common control with affiliated entities (including a broker-dealer and an investment adviser), which may engage in transactions involving the foregoing securities for the clients of such affiliates.

Contact: Jim Giaquinto

Company: Zacks.com

Phone: 312-265-9268

Email: [email protected]

Visit: https://www.zacks.com/

Zacks.com provides investment resources and informs you of these resources, which you may choose to use in making your own investment decisions. Zacks is providing information on this resource to you subject to the Zacks "Terms and Conditions of Service" disclaimer. www.zacks.com/disclaimer.

Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit https://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

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

Zacks Investment Research