S&P 500 Stocks At 52-Week Highs: Wednesday’s Full List
A list heavy with financial names raises questions about the valuation of its largest member.
Apple (AAPL) is now a company with a market value of about $4805.5 billion, leading a list of 24 S&P 500 stocks at their 52-week highs on Wednesday. The list is heavily weighted toward finance, with Diversified Banks, Asset Management & Custody Banks, and Regional Banks all contributing 4 names each. This clustering raises a central question: does the list’s largest name tell a different story than the financials that fill it out?
Below are the names making new highs.
The Full List, Largest First
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 24 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | $4,805.5 Bil | 4.0% | 4.5% | 12.5% | 57.6% |
| JPM | $942.3 Bil | 1.2% | 4.9% | 8.7% | 22.5% |
| BAC | $446.9 Bil | 1.6% | 5.6% | 9.9% | 33.7% |
| MS | $356.8 Bil | 0.4% | 4.8% | 6.8% | 62.6% |
| GS | $350.0 Bil | 1.1% | 11.9% | 8.4% | 64.8% |
| BNY | $112.2 Bil | 5.1% | 8.1% | 12.8% | |
| PNC | $102.9 Bil | 0.9% | 3.1% | 6.9% | 33.1% |
| USB | $97.9 Bil | 1.4% | 3.3% | 7.8% | 39.2% |
| NSC | $73.8 Bil | 0.5% | 2.9% | 4.7% | 27.3% |
| STT | $52.0 Bil | 1.6% | 5.2% | 11.9% | 73.9% |
Is Apple’s new high built on a different foundation than the banks’?
The figures suggest a clear distinction. Apple trades at 39.2 times trailing earnings, supported by revenue that grew 12.8% over the last twelve months and an operating margin of 32.6%.
In contrast, the large banks on the list show different profiles. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) trades at 16.0 times trailing earnings with revenue growth of 8.2%. Bank of America (BAC) trades at 14.1 times earnings, while its revenue grew 7.1% over the last twelve months.
So how should an investor use this list?
A 52-week high means the stock is at its strongest price of the last year, and strength can persist. But a high price is not a verdict on the underlying business. It is simply a data point reflecting current sentiment.
The disciplined move is to treat this list as a screen for what is working, then ask whether the business fundamentals can earn that new, higher valuation. A new high is a starting point for research, not a finish line.
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: 17 of the 24 names are Financials stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, a financials ETF like XLF is one way to own the group’s strength without betting on which single name leads it from here.
Strength Is A Clue. It Is Not A Plan
A stock at its 52-week high has momentum on its side, and momentum is a real force. It is also the most crowded signal in the market, and the difference between a run that lasts and one that tops is always the business underneath.
Checking that business, across thousands of names, is how the Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is assembled: roughly 30 companies that pass the quality screens, rebalanced on rules. 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. Let the highs point; let the discipline decide.