66 Small Cap Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Wednesday
While the broad market falters, a specific group of smaller companies is hitting new peaks, raising questions about their valuations.
While the S&P 500 has returned -1.2% over the last month, a pocket of the market is showing notable strength. As of Wednesday, 66 Small Cap stocks from the Russell 3000 are trading at their 52-week highs, with the list heavily concentrated in Biotechnology with 21 names.
The central question for any name on this list is whether the business fundamentals can support the new price level. Below are the names that met the screen.
Every Name On The List
- 16 Stocks Just Touched 52-Week Lows
- 37 S&P 500 Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 33 Mid Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 26 Large Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
- Market Movers | Winners: CRNX, CLRO, TVRD | Losers: KIDZ, EDBL, WHLR
- S&P 500 Movers | Winners: CTSH, OXY, CBOE | Losers: INTC, TER, GNRC
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 66 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HSIC | $10.0 Bil | 0.3% | 3.0% | 13.8% | 16.6% |
| CFR | $9.9 Bil | 0.7% | 1.6% | 14.1% | 19.0% |
| CORT | $9.8 Bil | 2.7% | 7.0% | 25.6% | 31.8% |
| NUVL | $9.7 Bil | 0.0% | 0.2% | 31.6% | 53.8% |
| AMG | $9.6 Bil | 0.9% | 5.0% | 7.4% | 78.6% |
| HALO | $9.6 Bil | 1.0% | 5.7% | 13.9% | 51.5% |
| PRI | $9.6 Bil | 1.1% | 5.4% | 17.3% | 11.0% |
| LTH | $9.3 Bil | 2.0% | 1.6% | 28.9% | 43.1% |
| APGE | $9.3 Bil | 0.0% | 0.7% | 46.9% | 201.3% |
| ALKS | $9.2 Bil | 0.1% | 5.1% | 27.3% | 90.4% |
Is every new high built on the same foundation?
Corcept Therapeutics (CORT) has gained 25.6% over the last month, reaching a market value of about $9.8 billion. The stock now trades at 207.4 times trailing earnings, even as its operating margin is -1.1% on revenue that grew 12.2% over the last twelve months.
Contrast that with Henry Schein (HSIC), the largest name on the list. It trades at 25.3 times trailing earnings with a 5.6% operating margin, and its revenue grew 5.6%.
A 52-week high is a starting point for new work.
A 52-week high means the stock is at its strongest price of the last year, and that strength can persist. But a price is just a price, not a verdict on the business itself. A stock at its peak can be overvalued or fairly valued.
The disciplined move is to treat this list not as a set of recommendations, but as a screen. The real work is checking whether the underlying business earns its new level.
Before chasing any name on this list, ask what the company itself expects next. Our Guidance Momentum screen surfaces the stocks whose managements just raised their own outlooks, which is the momentum that tends to have staying power.
One more pattern worth noticing: 31 of the 66 names are Health Care stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, a healthcare ETF like XLV is one way to own the group’s strength without betting on which single name leads it from here.
New Highs Fade. Discipline Compounds
Some of the names on this list will keep setting highs for years, and some are at the top of their run right now. Sorting one from the other, name by name, every day, is the work most investors never keep up with.
That sorting is what the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio does systematically: about 30 quality businesses screened for the fundamentals that sustain a run, held with rules instead of excitement. It has a track record of outpacing a benchmark that combines all major indices – the S&P 500, S&P Mid-cap, and Russell 2000. Use the high list for ideas; use the portfolio for the compounding.