Sales growth is an important metric for any company, as it is a vital part of growth projections and instrumental in strategic decision-making. It provides an insight into product demand and pricing power. By monitoring this key metric over multiple time periods, one can easily understand a company’s growth trend.

Sales growth is important to justify the fixed and variable expenses incurred to operate a business. Low revenues lead to an unprofitable business and disappointing financial performance. Stagnant companies may generate near-term profit but can’t rev up enough growth to attract new investors.

Also, in a growing economy, lack of sales growth most likely denotes that the company is not gaining market share over its competitors. In simple terms, some sustained sales growth is essential to support the bottom line.

Focusing solely on sales growth is not enough though. A healthy sales growth rate is certainly a positive indicator for picking good stocks, but it does not ensure profits. So, taking into consideration a company’s cash position along with its sales number can prove to be a more dependable strategy.

Substantial cash on hand and a steady cash flow give a company more flexibility with respect to business decisions and potential investments. Cash also enables a company to endure market downturns. Most importantly, a sufficient cash position indicates that revenues are being channelized in the right direction.

Picking the Winning Stocks

In order to shortlist stocks that have witnessed impressive sales growth along with a high cash balance, we have selected 5-Year Historical Sales Growth (%) greater than X-Industry and Cash Flow greater than $500 million as our main screening parameters.

But sales growth and cash strength are not the absolute criteria for selecting stocks. So, we added certain other factors to arrive at a winning strategy.

Price-to-Sales (P/S) Ratio less than X-Industry: This metric determines the value placed on each dollar of a company’s revenues. The lower the ratio, the better it is for picking a stock since the investor is paying less for each unit of sales.

% Change F1 Sales Estimate Revisions (4 Weeks) greater than X-Industry: Better-than-industry estimate revision has often been seen to trigger an increase in stock price.

Operating Margin (Average Last 5 years) greater than 5%: Operating margin measures how much every dollar of a company's sales translates into profits. A high ratio indicates that the company has good cost control and sales are increasing faster than costs, an optimal situation for the company.

Return on Equity (ROE) greater than 5%: This metric will ensure that sales growth is translated into profits and the company is not hoarding cash. A high ROE means the company is spending wisely and is in all likelihood profitable.

Zacks Rank less than or equal to 2: Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) stocks are known to outperform irrespective of the market environment. 

Here are seven of the 23 stocks that qualified the screening:

Based in Lincolnshire, IL, Zebra Technologies Corporation (ZBRA - Free Report) designs, manufactures and sells a range of automatic identification and data capture products. Expected sales growth rate for the current year is 5.7% and the stock sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Tyson Foods, Inc. (TSN - Free Report) operates as a food company. This Springdale, AR-based company’s expected sales growth rate for fiscal 2018 is 7.1% and it carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Stryker Corporation (SYK - Free Report), headquartered in Kalamazoo, MI, operates as a medical technology company. Its current year expected sales growth rate is 8.7% and the stock carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Headquartered in Southfield, MI, Lear Corporation (LEA - Free Report) designs, develops, engineers, manufactures, assembles and supplies automotive seating and electrical distribution systems and related components. The company’s expected sales growth rate for 2018 is 6.5% and it carries a Zacks Rank #2.

The Progressive Corporation (PGR - Free Report) provides personal and commercial auto insurance, residential property insurance, and other specialty property-casualty insurance and related services. This Mayfield Village, OH-based company’s sales are expected to grow at the rate of 17.5% for 2018 and the stock has a Zacks Rank #2.

Based in New York, The Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (IPG - Free Report) offers advertising and marketing services. The company has expected sales growth rate of 2.8% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #2.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, CBRE Group, Inc. (CBRE - Free Report) is a commercial real estate services and investment company. The company has expected sales growth rate of 10.1% for 2018 and carries a Zacks Rank #2.