Two measures that show Sports Direct's positive momentum (LON:SPD)

Finding stocks that have both positive share price momentum and improving financial health trends is a great way of finding pockets of quality and momentum in the stock market. A simple and effective starting point in this search might be to set up a screen that identifies high Piotroski F-Score stocks with positive one-year relative strengths. If we set the screen to only show F-Scores of 7 out of 9 or higher and an RS 1y of 0% or higher, we get a host of promising candidates to investigate.

I want to see if Sports Direct (LON:SPD) qualifies for this screen, but first a brief explanation of the theory that backs this kind of screen up.

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Sports Direct's F-Score: identifying fundamental momentum

Perhaps the biggest appeal of the F-Score is that it captures a stock's fundamental momentum in a single number that it is easily comparable across companies.

The Score itself is a simple but effective checklist: nine rules that a company either passes or fails, making for a score of between zero and nine. These checks are grouped under three headings: profitability, leverage and liquidity, and operating efficiency. Six of them record year-on-year changes in various financial health measures, meaning that, compared to other measures, the F-Score tells us more about the direction in which a company’s financial state is moving.

Sports Direct International passes this test, with an F-Score of 9.

Sports Direct's one-year relative strength: measuring technical momentum

Relative strength gives an instant measure of how a stock has performed in comparison with a benchmark. Anything above 0 means that a company's share price has outperformed the benchmark over a certain time frame.

Using Stockopedia's financial data, we see that Sports Direct International has a one-year relative strength of 0.13%. This means Sports Direct International also passes this screen's technical momentum check.

Sports Direct International displays some promising early signs of quality and momentum, but we can do more research into these factors. If you head over to the group's StockReport, you can use the Quality Rank and Momentum Rank to see how Sports Direct International compares against every other company in the market.

Studies indicate that combining factors such as Value, Quality and Momentum is a more effective way of outperforming the market over longer time frames. That's why we have constructed our StockReports to give an instant impression of how well exposed Sports Direct International (LON:SPD) is to these three factors. We go into greater detail on factor investing in this video.

Stockopedia helps you to identify return-enhancing factors such as Quality, Value and Momentum by analysing thousands of data points every day. To find out more about you find investment opportunities and analyse your portfolios then take one of our two-week free trials and have a look around.