The 52-Week-High List: 6 S&P 500 Names On Thursday
A short list of market leaders reveals a sharp divide between high-growth technology and value-sector strength.
Arista Networks (ANET), with a market value of about $227.7 billion, leads a very short list of market leaders today. As of Thursday, just 6 S&P 500 stocks are trading at their 52-week highs, a tight group that has handily outpaced the S&P 500’s +1.1% return over the last month. The central question this list poses is what kind of strength the market is rewarding.
Here are the names.
The Complete 52-Week-High List
- 1 S&P 500 Stock Just Touched 52-Week Lows
- The 52-Week-Low List: 29 Names On Thursday
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 24 Small Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
- Large Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs: Thursday’s Full List
- S&P 500 Movers | Winners: AKAM, ANET, SMCI | Losers: SYF, MRNA, SW
- Market Movers | Winners: VTAK, TVRD, FRTT | Losers: ONFO, CLRO, BTAI
The table below lists every stock at its 52-week high, largest first, with one-day, one-week, one-month, and one-year returns:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ANET | $227.7 Bil | 8.8% | 6.6% | 17.4% | 78.4% |
| VLO | $84.3 Bil | 6.3% | 8.6% | 10.6% | 101.8% |
| MPC | $82.8 Bil | 5.4% | 9.8% | 7.1% | 62.2% |
| PSX | $75.5 Bil | 5.0% | 11.1% | 2.6% | 53.7% |
| D | $61.4 Bil | 0.0% | 2.3% | 4.4% | 29.2% |
| TRGP | $59.7 Bil | 1.5% | 3.6% | 5.2% | 64.8% |
But is every new high built on the same foundation?
Arista Networks (ANET) presents a clear case of a price following performance. The company’s revenue grew 30.6% over the last twelve months, supported by an operating margin of 42.8%. Its stock has gained 17.4% over the last month alone.
Contrast that with the cluster of three Oil & Gas names. Valero Energy (VLO), for example, reached its high even as its revenue declined 2.8% over the same period. This suggests a very different dynamic is at work within this small group of leaders.
So how should an investor use this list?
A 52-week high is a sign of strength, and that strength can persist. But a price is not a verdict. The disciplined approach is to treat the new high as a starting point for diligence, not a conclusion.
The key is to ask whether the underlying business performance earns the new valuation. The list itself shows that stocks can arrive at this milestone through very different fundamental paths.
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: 4 of the 6 names are Energy stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, an energy ETF like XLE 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.