When value or growth investing fails to fetch sustained profits, one should explore another time-tested winning strategy that simply bets on the frontrunner stocks. Translated, one of the most successful strategies today is to get in on momentum stocks at the right time.

At the core, momentum investing is buying high, selling higher. It is based on the idea that once a stock establishes a trend, it is more likely to continue in that direction than move against the drift. Thus, this strategy calls for hitching a ride on an already fast-moving train, without fretting about valuations or growth prospects. But why does the momentum strategy work?

There is a simple reason behind this. It works because we are humans!

There’s a whole laundry list of behavioral biases that most investors exhibit and these emotional responses and mistakes are the very reason that momentum strategy works. For instance, there are investors who are anxious about booking losses and hence hold on to losing stocks for too long, hopeful of a rebound in the prices. On the other hand, a few investors sell their winners way too early.

Furthermore, investors initially tend to under-react to news, events or data releases. However, once things become clear, they tend to go with the flow and overreact, causing dramatic price reactions.

These behavioral problems extend trends, and thus open up huge opportunities for momentum players. So basically, it’s a way to profit from the general human tendency to extrapolate current trends into the future.

Momentum investing is thus based on that gap in time that exists before the mean reversion occurs, i.e. before prices become rational again.

Momentum strategies have been known to be alpha-generative over a long period of time and across markets. So obviously, this strategy is quite tricky to implement, as detecting these trends is no child’s play.

Here, we have created a strategy that will help investors get in on these fast movers and make handsome gains. Our screen will help you benefit from both long-term price momentum and a short-term pullback in price, which would reflect some profit-taking in the stock.

Screening Parameters

Percentage Change Price (52 Weeks) = Top #50: This item selects the top 50 stocks with the best percentage price change over the last 52 weeks. This parameter ensures we get stocks that have appreciated the maximum over the past one year.

Percentage Change in Price (1 Week) = Bottom #10: From the above 50 stocks, we then choose those that are also among the 10 worst performers over a short one-week 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.

Momentum Style Score of B or better: A top Momentum Style Score knocks out a lot of the screening process as it takes into account several factors including volume change and performance relative to its peers. It indicates when the timing is best to grab a stock and take advantage of its momentum with the highest probability of success. Stocks with a Momentum Style Score of A or B, when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 or 2 (Buy) handily outperform other stocks.

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

Market Capitalization = Top #3000: We have chosen stocks that are among the top 3000 in terms of market value to ensure strong liquidity.

Average 20-Day Volume greater than 100,000: A substantial trading volume ensures that these stocks are easily tradable.

Here are four of the seven stocks that made it through this screen:

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (PPC  - Free Report), which engages in the production, processing, marketing, and distribution of fresh, frozen, and value-added chicken products, has gained 81.3% over the past one year. The company has a Momentum Style Score of B.

Shares of Groupon, Inc. (GRPN - Free Report), which operates online local commerce marketplaces that connect merchants to consumers by offering goods and services at a discount, went up 47.9% in the past one year. The company has a Momentum Style Score of B.

Lam Research Corporation (LRCX - Free Report) designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits worldwide. The stock appreciated 71.6% in the past one year and has a Momentum Style Score of B.

MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG - Free Report) provides private mortgage insurance and ancillary services to lenders and government sponsored entities in the United States. The stock soared 41.2% in the past one year and has a Momentum Style Score of B.