Investing can be a tedious process unless one knows how to search for potential winners from the vast universe of stocks. In order to make this task easier, it’s prudent to follow broker ratings.

Brokers have deeper insight into what’s happening in a particular company. They properly analyze the fundamentals of a company and place them against the present economic backdrop to figure out how the stock will fare as an investment.

Also, brokers directly communicate with top management, attend conference calls and go through the company’s publicly available financial documents. They even talk to customers to understand their likes/dislikes for the products and services offered by the company.

So, one can easily choose attractive stocks by following broker upgrades. But merely depending on it is not wise though. One must take into consideration several other factors to ensure strong returns.

Picking the Winning Strategy

We have a screening strategy that will help in your search for potential winners:

Broker Rating Upgrades (4 weeks): The screen selects stocks that have witnessed broker rating upgrades over the last four weeks.

Current Price greater than 5: The stocks must be trading above $5.

Average 20-day Volume greater than 100,000:  A large trading volume guarantees that the stock is easily tradable.

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

VGM Score equal to A: Our research shows that stocks with a VGM Score of A or B when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) offer the best upside potential.

Here are five of the nine stocks that made it through the screen:

Headquartered in Tempe, AZ, Insight Enterprises, Inc. (NSIT - Free Report) provides information technology (IT) hardware, software, cloud, and service solutions. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 36.3%. The stock witnessed 18.2% upward revisions in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Long Beach, CA based Molina Healthcare, Inc. (MOH - Free Report) provides Medicaid-related solutions to meet the health care needs of low-income families and individuals; and to assist state agencies in their administration of the Medicaid program. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 45.7%. The stock witnessed nearly 1% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Huntsman Corporation (HUN - Free Report) , headquartered in The Woodlands, TX, manufactures and sells differentiated organic and inorganic chemical products. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 20.1%. The stock witnessed 9.1% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

Headquartered in Irvine, CA, Western Digital Corporation (WDC - Free Report) develops, manufactures, and sells data storage devices and solutions. The company boasts a strong surprise history, with a trailing four-quarter average beat of 13.5%. The stock witnessed 1.6% upward revisions in broker ratings over the past four weeks.

New York based AllianceBernstein Holding L.P. (AB - Free Report) is a publicly owned investment manager and provides research services. Over the trailing four quarters, the company delivered an average positive surprise of 9.3%. The stock witnessed 42.9% upward revision in broker ratings over the past four weeks.