Stocks that rose over the last 6–12 months have tended to keep outperforming. Momentum has decades of academic support at the portfolio level.
Momentum is the tendency of recent winners to keep winning over the medium term. Measured as positive 6- or 12-month return, it is one of the most robust factors in the academic literature — documented across decades, countries, and asset classes.
Momentum’s edge is real on average across many names, not a promise for any single stock. Individual momentum names can reverse hard (“momentum crashes”). So it’s a tilt, not a guarantee — size and diversification matter.
Momentum and the 200-day filter overlap: both say “go with strength.” Reading their measured lifts together tells you how much is genuinely additive vs the same effect counted twice.