Zacks Recent Price Strength Strategy Highlights: AAON Inc., Compass Minerals International, Cholestech Corp. and Diversa Corp.

CHICAGO -- This stock picking strategy looks for companies trading in the upper range of their 52-week highs that have attractive fundamental attributes. This strategy proves that "trend is your friend" with a +13.9% return versus +2.1% for the S&P 500 in the first five months of 2006. This screen is called the Recent Price Strength Profit Track strategy. Four stocks meeting this screen's exclusive criteria are AAON Inc. (Nasdaq: AAON), Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE: CMP), Cholestech Corp. (Nasdaq: CTEC) and Diversa Corp. (Nasdaq: DVSA). View the entire list of stocks for the Recent Price Strength Profit Track at http://at.zacks.com/?id=1863

Here are details about four companies currently identified by the Recent Price Strength Profit Track:

AAON Inc. (Nasdaq: AAON) recently established a new 52-week high. The company also recently reported record earnings and sales. Third-quarter earnings per share totaled 43 cents, which was ahead of last year's 22 cents and above the consensus estimate by almost 23%. The company stated that the increase in earnings resulted primarily from both higher volume and price increases, which provided an improvement in gross margins in the third quarter. AAON has advanced in share price by 20% over the past four weeks.

Compass Minerals International, Inc. (NYSE: CMP), a Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) company, recently announced third-quarter earnings of seven cents per share, reversing the year-prior loss and topping the consensus estimate by 200%. Compass Minerals International has outpaced analysts' expectations each time over the past five consecutive quarters. CMP has been setting new 52-week highs and has increased by 12% over the past four weeks.

Cholestech Corp. (Nasdaq: CTEC) is within reach of its 52-week high and experienced 42% growth over the past four weeks. In late October, the company posted fiscal second-quarter earnings of 15 cents per share, topping the previous year's 11 cents and eclipsing the consensus estimate almost 37%. The company said this past quarter and the first half of fiscal 2007, Cholestech has demonstrated significant operating leverage in addition to double digit revenue growth. This fact is reflected in the company's improved operating margin and continued strong cash flow.

Diversa Corp. (Nasdaq: DVSA) recently released its report for the for the quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2006. The company commented that it is pleased with the progress it has made on the goals it set for 2006. So far, among other accomplishments, DVSA has delivered on its promise to reduce costs, conserve cash, concentrate on bringing new products to market, and increase penetration of its existing products. Diversa meets the criteria of this Profit Track as its share price has experienced 13% growth over the past four weeks and is currently near its 52-week high.

Discover all the current stocks currently on the Recent Price Strength Profit Track at: http://at.zacks.com/?id=1864

About Profit Tracks

What is a "Profit Track"? Each Profit Track is a successful stock picking strategy with proven results through the Bear Market of 2001-2002 and the Bull run started in 2003. On Zacks.com we have created these nine unique screens to offer investors great strategies to potentially outperform the market in the years ahead. For the first five months of 2006, the Low Price Stocks strategy was the top performing Profit Track with a return of +22.2% followed by the Discounted Fundamental screen with a +18.6% return. To see all nine strategies along with philosophy, past performance and current stocks, go to http://at.zacks.com/?id=1838

All the Profit Track strategies were created and backtested using the Research Wizard software from Zacks Investment Research. If you like this screening strategy, but want to narrow down the list of stocks and even improve the performance, then you should start a free trial to this powerful stock picking tool. Learn more about the Research Wizard free trial offer and our new special report "Top 10 Stock Screening Strategies" at http://at.zacks.com/?id=2156

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