F5 saw its IBD SmartSelect Composite Rating jump to 96 Thursday, up from 93 the day before.
The new rating is a sign the stock is outpacing 96% of all stocks when it comes to the most important stock-picking criteria. The market's biggest winners often have a 95 or higher score in the early stages of a new price run, so that's an important benchmark to look for when looking for the best stocks to buy and watch.
F5 is now out of buy range after clearing the 205.92 entry in a flat base.
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One weak spot is the company's 77 EPS Rating, which tracks quarterly and annual earnings growth. Look for that to improve to 80 or better to show it's in the top 20% of all stocks.
Its Accumulation/Distribution Rating of A- shows heavy buying by institutional investors over the last 13 weeks.
The company posted a 12% earnings gain for Q1. That means it's now delivered two straight quarters of rising EPS gains. Top line growth climbed 11%, up from 6% in the prior report. The company has now posted rising growth in each of the last three reports.
F5 earns the No. 3 rank among its peers in the Internet-Networking Solutions industry group. Credo Tech Group is the top-ranked stock within the group.
