Picking profit-making stocks for investments might be popular, but not flawless. This is because even a profit-making company can have a deficiency of cash flow and become bankrupt while meeting its obligations. However, one can effectively judge a company’s resilience by looking at its efficiency in generating cash flows.
In this regard, stocks like BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. BTSG, Dycom Industries, Inc. DY, StoneX Group Inc. SNEX and Orion Group Holdings, Inc. ORN are worth buying.
Cash, which is indeed the lifeblood of any business, gives a company the flexibility to make decisions, the means to make potential investments and the fuel to run its growth engine. Cash shields a company from market turmoil and indicates that profits are being channelized in the right direction. With uncertainties in the global economy, market disruptions and dislocations, as well as liquidity concerns, analyzing a company’s cash-generating efficiency holds more relevance in the current context.
To figure out this efficiency, one needs to consider a company’s net cash flow. While in any business, cash moves in and out, it is net cash flow that explains how much money a company is actually generating.
If a company is experiencing a positive cash flow, it denotes an increase in its liquid assets, which gives it the means to meet debt obligations, shell out for expenses, reinvest in the business, endure downturns and finally return wealth to shareholders. On the other hand, a negative cash flow indicates a decline in the company’s liquidity, which in turn lowers its flexibility to support these moves.
However, having a positive cash flow merely does not secure a company’s future growth. To ride on the growth curve, a company must have its cash flow increasing because that indicates management’s efficiency in regulating its cash movements and less dependency on outside financing for running its business.
Therefore, keep yourself abreast with the following screen to bet on stocks with rising cash flows.
Screening Parameters:
To find stocks that have seen increasing cash flow over time, we ran the screen for those whose cash flow in the latest reported quarter was at least equal to or greater than the five-year average cash flow per common share. This implies a positive trend and increasing cash over a period of time.
In addition to this, we chose:
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 company’s future performance.
Current Price greater than or equal to $5: This sieves out low-priced stocks.
VGM Score of B or better: This score is also of great assistance in selecting stocks. Importantly, this scoring system helps in picking winning stocks in their industry categories.
Here are four out of the 10 stocks that qualified the screening:
BrightSpring Health Services is a national home and community-based healthcare services platform integrating pharmacy and provider care for medically complex patients across Medicare, Medicaid and commercial payors. The company focuses on seniors and specialty populations in lower-cost home and community settings.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for BrightSpring’s 2026 earnings has been revised upward by 10.6% to $1.67 over the past 60 days. BTSG has a VGM Score of B.
Dycom Industries is a specialty contracting firm operating in the telecom industry. The company provides diverse services such as engineering, construction, maintenance and installation services for the cable and telephone companies.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2027 earnings has improved 18.1% over the past 30 days to $16.35. DY currently has a VGM Score of B.
StoneX Group provides financial services. Through its subsidiaries, the company offers execution, post-trade settlement, clearing and custody services.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for StoneX Group’s fiscal 2026 earnings has moved northward by 3.4% to $6.00 per share over the past 60 days. SNEX has a VGM Score of A.
Orion is a specialty construction firm serving infrastructure, industrial and building markets across North America and the Caribbean. The company's operating segment consists of the heavy civil marine construction segment and the commercial concrete segment.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 earnings has risen to 40 cents from 37 cents per share over the past 60 days. Earnings for 2026 are expected to grow 60% from a year ago. ORN currently has a VGM Score of B.
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Dycom Industries, Inc. (DY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Orion Group Holdings, Inc. (ORN): Free Stock Analysis Report
StoneX Group Inc. (SNEX): Free Stock Analysis Report
BrightSpring Health Services, Inc. (BTSG): Free Stock Analysis Report
This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).