5 Stocks With Recent Price Strength to Tap August Rally

Five such stocks are — OptimumBank Holdings Inc. OPHC, EuroDry Ltd. EDRY, Enova International Inc. ENVA, Anika Therapeutics Inc. ANIK and The GEO Group Inc. GEO.

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 14.

Let’s discuss five out of those 14 stocks here:

OptimumBank offers real estate lending and retail banking products to individuals and businesses in Broward, Dade and Palm Beach Counties. OPHC provides various consumer and commercial banking services to individuals and businesses.

OPHC also offers multi-family real estate, residential and commercial real estate, land and construction loans, commercial loans and consumer loans for various purposes and deposit account collateralized loans. 

The stock price of OPHC has soared 67.5% over the past four weeks. The company has expected earnings growth of 39.4% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 16.5% over the last 30 days.

EuroDry is an owner and operator of drybulk vessels and provider of seaborne transportation for drybulk cargoes. EDRY owns and operates drybulk carriers that transport major bulks, such as iron ore, coal, and grains, and minor bulks, including bauxite, phosphate, and fertilizers.

The stock price of EDRY has jumped 64.1% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of more than 18.6% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 10.3% over the last 30 days.

Enova lending platform continued to expand across both core categories in the first half of 2026. Second-quarter originations rose 27% year over year to $2.3 billion, marking the 11th consecutive quarter of at least 20% growth. Small business originations increased 29%, supported by ENVA’s established brand presence, scale and diversification across industries and geographies. 

Consumer originations advanced 23% as demand strengthened, particularly for lines of credit and ENVA captured new customers without changing its risk appetite or unit-economics requirements. 

Origination growth is likely to be aided by continued demand from underserved consumers and small businesses, repeat borrowing from newly acquired customers, broader product adoption, and further scaling of the existing platform. ENVA expects 2026 originations to grow 20% from 2025. 

The stock price of Enova has surged 54% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 34% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 5.7% over the last 30 days.

Anika Therapeutics is a global, integrated orthopedic medicines company. ANIK aims to improve the lives of patients with degenerative orthopedic diseases and traumatic conditions with clinically meaningful therapies along the continuum of care, from palliative pain management to regenerative cartilage repair. 

ANIK’s orthopedic medicine portfolio includes ORTHOVISC, MONOVISC, and CINGAL, which alleviate pain and restore joint function by replenishing depleted HA, and HYALOFAST, a solid HA-based scaffold to aid cartilage repair and regeneration.

The stock price of Anika Therapeutics has climbed 43.7% in 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 more than 100% over the last 30 days.

The GEO Group is a diversified government service provider, specializing in design, financing, development and support services for secure facilities, processing centers and community reentry centers principally in the United States, Australia, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

The stock price of GEO has rallied 33.9% in the past four weeks. It has an expected earnings growth rate of 48.8% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the current year’s earnings has improved 6.7% over the last seven days.

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

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