Zacks.com Featured Expert Kevin Matras Highlights the Following Stocks: Brascan Corporation, Edge Petroleum Corp. and Goodrich Corporation.

CHICAGO -- Zacks.com releases it's exclusive Screen of the Week report that highlights another successful stock picking strategy developed with their Research Wizard software. Kevin Matras looks at how to find winning stocks in the winningest Sectors. Then he shows how to find more of them! Plus, get 3 top picks from the top 3 Sectors. Some stocks in this week's screen are: Brascan Corporation (NYSE:BNN), Edge Petroleum Corp. (NASDAQ:EPEX), and Goodrich Corporation (NYSE:GR). Click here for the full story exclusively on Zacks.com: http://at.zacks.com/?id=109

Screen of the Week written by Kevin Matras of Zacks Investment Research:

'Great Stocks often have some Great Peers'

Kevin Matras has mentioned it here before, but it's worth saying again; nearly half of a stock's price movement is tied to the performance of its respective group (Sector and Industry).

That being said, most great stocks from great groups often have some great peers as well.

If you find yourself in a killer trade (or wished you were in one), take a look at the characteristics of THAT STOCK and then hunt within its group to find OTHER STOCKS that share the same characteristics.

Does a certain outstanding stock exhibit great sales growth? Kevin is sure there are at least a few within its group that are also showing similar numbers.

What about increasing margins? If the stock is doing well, it's likely that the industry itself is experiencing meaningful increases in margins too.

This type of screening is often called 'modeling'. Figure out the components of what makes something successful and concentrate on that.

If you're in love with a certain stock or sector, but it's not doing anything, or worse, moving against you, move on.

If you see great stocks in great groups while you're bemoaning your misfortune in laggards or non-movers, find what stocks are successful and model them.

If the winningest stocks in a particular sector or industry are trading at PE ratios that you generally won't consider, instead consider this; if you had considered them, they would be winning for you.

So therefore, see what characteristics some of the best stocks have in common and try getting on some of those.

Here's something to start you off.

The top three Sectors based on the percentage of stocks at (or within 10% of) their 52 week highs are as follows:

Conglomerates 52%

Oils-Energy 51%

Aerospace 45%

This differs from January '04's top 3, which were:

Finance 77% (now 39% and in 6th place)

Utilities 66% (now 41% and in 4th place)

Oils-Energy 65% (now only 51%, but up one spot at 2nd place)

And here's a few stocks within those groups; (for Mon. 7/19/04)

BNN Brascan Corporation Conglomerates

EPEX Edge Petroleum Corp. Oils-Energy

GR Goodrich Corporation Aerospace

Now try screening for stocks in these Sectors that are in the best Industries. Search for the best performers and then compare the valuations such as P/E, Cash Flow, Sales or Net Margins. Or how about its Price/Book Value or Debt/Equity Leverage. Maybe you'll see a pattern of upward EPS revisions or an increase in broker ratings or even perhaps new coverage.

Simply put, modeling the best stocks is a great way to find other high probability winning stocks.

To search for the best stocks yourself, sign up for your 2 week FREE trial to the Research Wizard. http://at.zacks.com/?id=110

And remember, the key to successful screening is in discovering those screens that have produced profitable results in the past. And that's exactly what you get with the powerful Backtesting ability of Research Wizard. Click here to find out more about our free trial to this profitable stock selection tool: http://at.zacks.com/?id=111

About Screen of the Week

Zacks.com created the first and best screening system on the web and that's what earned us the distinction as the "#1 site for screening stocks" by Money Magazine. But powerful screening tools is just the start. That is why we created the Screen of the Week to highlight profitable stock picking strategies that you can actively employ on your own. Each week we share a new screening strategy in our Profit from the Pros free email newsletter. Learn more about it here http://at.zacks.com/?id=112

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