57 Small Cap Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
A new list of market leaders is heavily concentrated in one industry, yet its largest members tell very different stories.
Regional Banks are the clear center of strength, with 15 names on today’s list. In total, 57 Small Cap stocks from the Russell 3000 reached their 52-week highs on Monday. The largest company on the list is Glaukos (GKOS), with a market value of about $9.9 billion.
The question for an investor is what kind of strength this is. The largest companies making new highs show radically different financial profiles, from rapid growth with negative margins to slower growth with high profitability. Below is the full list of names at their strongest price of the last year.
The Biggest Names On The List
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 57 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GKOS | $9.9 Bil | 2.5% | 12.5% | 15.2% | 98.5% |
| EAT | $9.7 Bil | 5.4% | 15.3% | 26.8% | 43.0% |
| MTCH | $9.5 Bil | 2.9% | 4.5% | 7.5% | 21.0% |
| LNC | $8.8 Bil | 1.1% | 11.9% | 26.0% | 26.6% |
| JXN | $8.8 Bil | 3.2% | 4.2% | 20.8% | 49.0% |
| BOKF | $8.6 Bil | 1.8% | 1.9% | 3.2% | 44.6% |
| AXTA | $7.7 Bil | 1.3% | 7.5% | 3.3% | 28.1% |
| PB | $7.5 Bil | 0.5% | 3.7% | 6.1% | 16.9% |
| GTES | $7.5 Bil | 5.0% | 10.7% | 10.1% | 18.5% |
| CHE | $7.4 Bil | 1.6% | 6.1% | 10.4% | 31.8% |
The largest names on the list show starkly different fundamentals.
Glaukos (GKOS) has gained 15.2% over the last month, but its business profile is one of high growth and deep losses. The company’s revenue grew 41.5% over the last twelve months, while its operating margin is -31.3%.
Contrast that with Brinker International (EAT), which gained 26.8% over the last month. It trades at 21.0 times trailing earnings, with revenue growth of 11.8% and an operating margin of 10.7%. Match (MTCH) shows a third profile: slower revenue growth of 2.0% but a high operating margin of 28.1%.
A high price invites a hard look at the business.
A list of stocks at their yearly highs is a useful screen for strength. Price leadership often persists. But a new high is a market data point, not a final verdict on a company’s quality or future.
The disciplined approach is to treat this list as the beginning of the work, not the end. The essential question is whether the underlying business performance can earn the stock’s new, higher valuation.
A new high tells you what the market already believes. The harder question is which of these runs management itself is underwriting. Our Guidance Momentum screen tracks exactly that: stocks where the company raised its own forward numbers.
One more pattern worth noticing: 28 of the 57 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.
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.