Communications networks are rapidly expanding behind 5G technology, and financial companies are riding a growth wave amid a plethora of new payments methods. That's put phone calling cards and cloud-based wireless connectivity company IDT in a sweet spot. On Wednesday top-ranked IDT stock's IBD SmartSelect Composite Rating climbed a couple of notches to a near-perfect 96, up from 94. The upgrade came after IDT stock soared more than 1,000% from its Covid bear market low last year.

The new score tells you the company is now outperforming 96% of all stocks in terms of the most important fundamental and technical stock-picking criteria. Winning stocks often have a 95 or higher grade in the early stages of a new price run, so that's a good item to have on your checklist when looking for the best stocks to buy and watch.

IDT Stock Has Top-Notch RS Rating

Among other key ratings, IDT boasts a perfect 99 Relative Strength Rating. The RS Rating is a 1-99 score of a stock's 12-month performance. Leading stocks tend to have RS Ratings of 80 before big price runs.

IDT stock's Accumulation/Distribution Rating of C+ shows more institutional investors have bought shares than sold them over the last 13 weeks.

One weak spot is the company's 72 EPS Rating, which tracks quarterly and annual earnings growth. Although profit growth has been strong over the past year, the company struggled earlier. Look for that number to improve to 80 or better to show it's in the top 20% of all stocks.

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Regarding fundamentals, the company posted a 488% increase in earnings for Q3, its fourth quarter in a row of triple-digit profit growth. Sales grew 16% to $373.8 million in its most recent quarter. That marks two quarters of increasing revenue gains.

IDT Rocketed Up From Covid Crash Low

During the Covid bear market last year, IDT stock bottomed at an intraday low of 4.81 on March 20. From there, it rocketed more than 1,000% to a 57.10 high on Aug. 13 this year. It has since consolidated and traded at 44.40 Wednesday afternoon, up 0.4% for the day

IDT stock earns the No. 1 rank among its peers in the Telecom Services-Integrated industry group. Charter Communications and Frontier Communications Parent are also among the group's highest-rated stocks.