18 S&P 500 Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
A mix of industrial giants and payment processors are trading at their strongest prices of the year.
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK-B) and its market value of about $1131.7 billion leads a list of 18 S&P 500 stocks at their strongest price of the past year. The group’s recent performance is notable, with names like RTX (RTX) gaining 14.5% in a month where the S&P 500 returned just 3.1%.
The central question for any name on this list is whether the business fundamentals justify the new price level. Here are the names hitting new highs today.
The 10 Largest, By Market Cap
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 18 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BRK-B | $1,131.7 Bil | 1.1% | 2.9% | 6.0% | 13.0% |
| V | $669.8 Bil | 0.5% | 1.1% | 6.6% | 10.7% |
| RTX | $301.5 Bil | 0.4% | 4.1% | 14.5% | 45.1% |
| PH | $135.0 Bil | 7.3% | 11.1% | 13.9% | 50.9% |
| JCI | $94.6 Bil | 0.6% | 7.4% | 10.2% | 49.3% |
| ROST | $81.1 Bil | 0.4% | 0.7% | 16.8% | 81.0% |
| URI | $72.7 Bil | 0.1% | 8.8% | 8.5% | 35.2% |
| ALL | $71.4 Bil | 4.0% | 3.7% | 9.5% | 36.5% |
| MET | $65.2 Bil | 3.8% | 3.6% | 11.6% | 37.3% |
| FAST | $58.3 Bil | 1.6% | 8.9% | 9.8% | 14.2% |
A high price demands high performance.
Two giants on the list, Visa (V) and RTX (RTX), tell different stories. Visa gained 6.6% over the last month and trades at 30.8 times trailing earnings. That price is supported by revenue that grew 14.4% over the last twelve months and an operating margin of 65.6%.
RTX has had a sharper run, gaining 14.5% in the same period. It now trades at 39.0 times trailing earnings. For that higher multiple, investors get 11.8% revenue growth and an operating margin of 11.2%.
Strength is a signal to do the work.
A 52-week-high list is a map of market strength, and that strength often persists. But a high is a price, not a verdict on the underlying business.
The disciplined move is to treat this list as a starting point. It identifies companies the market is rewarding. The work is to check whether the business performance, revenue growth, margins, and earnings, earns the new level.
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.
Chasing Highs Is A Reflex. Owning Strength Is A System
A 52-week-high list is seductive: everything on it has been going right. But buying a stock because it is at its high is buying a price, and prices revert; what persists is the quality underneath the run.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is built to own that quality before and after it makes headlines: roughly 30 businesses selected for consistent cash generation, strong margins, and resilient balance sheets, sized and rebalanced with rules. 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. Admire the list; own the system.