5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength Despite a Volatile February

U.S. stock markets started 2026 on a positive note. Volatility reappeared on Wall Street in February, buy, predominantly due to market participants’ concerns about the continuity of artificial intelligence (AI) trade. 

The extremely overstretched valuation of AI stocks, the sustainability of massive AI spending by companies and serious doubt about the timing of monetization of this enormous spending resulted in a stiff decline of the technology sector.

Consequently, a handful of 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.

Five such stocks are — Okeanis Eco Tankers Corp. ECO, Seanergy Maritime Holdings Corp. SHIP, Modine Manufacturing Co. MOD, Suzano S.A. SUZ and StoneX Group Inc. SNEX. 

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 13.

Let’s discuss five out of those 13 stocks here:

Okeanis Eco Tankers is an international tanker company providing seaborne transportation of crude oil and refined products. ECO operates a fleet of 14 tanker vessels comprising six modern Suezmax tankers and eight modern VLCC tankers.

The stock price of ECO has jumped 36.2% over the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 15.4% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 74% over the last 30 days.

Seanergy Maritime is a prominent pure-play Capesize ship-owner, providing marine dry bulk transportation services through a modern fleet of Capesize vessels. SHIP’s operating fleet consists of 18 Capesize and 2 Newcastlemax dry bulk vessels.

The stock price of SHIP has climbed 35.4% over the past four weeks. The company has expected earnings growth of 46.1% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 28.1% over the last 30 days.

Modine Manufacturing operates primarily in a single industry consisting of the manufacture and sale of heat transfer equipment. MOD’s products include heat exchangers for cooling all types of engines, transmissions, auxiliary hydraulic equipment, air conditioning components used in cars, trucks, farm and construction machinery and equipment, and heating and cooling equipment for residential and commercial building HVAC (heating, ventilating, air conditioning and refrigeration equipment).

The stock price of MOD has surged 30.3% over the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 19% for the current year (ending March 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 4.1% over the last seven days.

Suzano is a producer of eucalyptus pulp as well as paper in Brazil and internationally. SUZ operates in two segments — Cellulose, and Paper. SUZ offers coated and uncoated printing and writing papers, paperboards, tissue papers, and market and fluff pulps.

The stock price of SUZ has rallied 20.5% over the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of -39.2% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 32.6% over the last 60 days.

StoneX Group operates as a global financial services network that connects companies, organizations, traders, and investors to the market ecosystem worldwide. SNEX operates through Commercial, Institutional, Retail, and Global Payments segments. Through its subsidiaries, SNEX offers execution, post-trade settlement, clearing and custody services.

The stock price of StoneX Group has advanced 15.1% in the past four weeks. The company has expected earnings growth of 34.1% for the current year (ending September 2026). The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 8.2% over the last 30 days.

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

Zacks Investment Research