Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 22 Mid Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
A cluster of financial firms dominates today’s list of new market highs, raising questions about narrow leadership.
NetApp (NTAP), with a market value of about $36.4 billion, has gained 19.0% over the last month to reach a new 52-week high. It leads a list of 22 Mid Cap stocks from the Russell 3000 at their strongest price of the past year.
The list is heavily weighted toward finance, with Regional Banks and Asset Management & Custody Banks accounting for a combined nine names. The central question is whether this narrow leadership signals something specific about the sector, especially when the S&P 500 has returned just +1.7% over the same period. Below is the full list of names making new highs.
The 10 Largest, By Market Cap
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 19 S&P 500 Stocks At 52-Week Highs
- 57 Small Cap Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
- The 52-Week-Low List: 7 Names On Monday
- 11 Large Cap Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
- S&P 500 Movers | Winners: FSLR, COHR, LITE | Losers: MAR, FICO, EBAY
- Market Movers | Winners: AEMD, HYFM, FUSE | Losers: GYGY, CALC, MIRA
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 22 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NTAP | $36.4 Bil | 2.5% | 7.7% | 19.0% | 78.7% |
| RJF | $34.8 Bil | 1.0% | 2.4% | 9.2% | 7.8% |
| DXCM | $33.6 Bil | 4.6% | 19.0% | 22.5% | 8.1% |
| WSM | $28.4 Bil | 4.9% | 2.3% | 5.7% | 30.0% |
| FCNCA | $26.5 Bil | 1.5% | 3.8% | 6.5% | 11.7% |
| PFG | $25.0 Bil | 1.3% | 3.5% | 3.8% | 53.4% |
| ROKU | $21.5 Bil | 0.6% | 2.0% | 2.4% | 54.9% |
| BEN | $18.2 Bil | 4.1% | 6.1% | 3.3% | 54.7% |
| JLL | $17.1 Bil | 3.1% | 9.9% | 11.8% | 35.4% |
| PNFP | $16.2 Bil | 2.2% | 4.3% | 8.1% | n/a |
A high price is not always matched by high growth.
Consider DexCom (DXCM), which has gained 22.5% over the last month. The stock trades at 33.4 times trailing earnings, supported by revenue that grew 15.5% over the last twelve months and an operating margin of 22.9%.
In contrast, First Citizens BancShares (FCNCA) also reached a new high, yet its revenue declined 1.0% over the last twelve months. It trades at a more modest 11.7 times trailing earnings.
Strength often persists, but the business must earn its price.
A 52-week high is a sign of strength, indicating a stock the market currently favors. This is often a durable signal.
But a price is not a verdict on the business itself. The disciplined next step is to examine the fundamentals. A new high should prompt a question: does the company’s revenue growth and margin profile justify its current valuation?
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: 11 of the 22 names are Financials stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, a U.S. broker-dealers & securities exchanges ETF like IAI 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 the three 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.