5 Green Days In A Row: Materion Stock Is Up 22%

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Materion (MTRN) stock is on a 5-day winning streak, up 21.8% since the run began. That added about $1.2 billion to the company’s market value, which now stands at about $6.6 billion. The stock closed at $319.18 on Monday, October 5, its highest close of the past year.

Image from Pixabay

 
How The Streak Stacks Up Against The S&P 500

Returns for MTRN and the S&P 500 over the streak and the periods around it, all ending Monday, October 5 and including dividends:
 

Return Period MTRN S&P 500
1 Day 2.2% 0.7%
5 Days (Current Streak) 21.8% 1.2%
1 Month (21 Trading Days) 32.7% 0.4%
3 Months (63 Trading Days) 29.2% 3.9%
Year To Date 157.3% 14.6%
1 Year (252 Trading Days) 159.4% 17.1%

How The Streak Compares With The Market

The market explains little of this: the S&P 500 gained 1.2% over the same 5 sessions, including dividends, against Materion’s +21.8%. Over the past three months the stock is up 29.2%, a window that includes the streak; over the other 58 sessions of that window it was up 6.0%.

Do The Fundamentals Support The Run?

On the fundamentals, revenue grew 21.6% over the last twelve months, against a median of 6.9% for S&P 500 Materials stocks; its operating margin is 6.4%, versus a median of 13.4%; and the stock trades at 73.7 times trailing earnings against a median of 20.7. The numbers make the run harder to justify: margins below the median and a multiple well above the median. At this price, the stock is asking a lot of the business.

If you are looking for strength with more behind it than a hot tape, our Guidance Momentum screen surfaces the names where management raised its own outlook.

For anyone who would rather back the theme than one company, a materials ETF like XLB holds the whole group, not just this stock. It is still a concentrated bet on one theme, which is the gap the portfolio below is built to close.

Momentum Is A Tailwind, Not A Plan

Riding a stock that rises every day feels effortless, and that is precisely the danger: the same momentum that built this run can reverse without notice, and one name’s reversal should never be able to reset your whole year.

That is what the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is for: about 30 quality businesses screened for the fundamentals that survive momentum’s mood swings, held with rules. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines the S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400, and the Russell 2000. Watch the runs; own the resilience.