The 52-Week-High List: 53 Small Cap Names On Tuesday
A list of market leaders reveals very different paths to the top.
One name on today’s 52-week-high list, Aehr Test Systems (AEHR), is up 72.3% over the last month alone, a period when the S&P 500 returned just 2.9%. It is one of 53 Small Cap stocks from the Russell 3000 at its strongest price of the past year. The central question is what kind of strength this is.
The list is dense with Biotechnology, which accounts for 10 of the names. Below are the small-cap stocks trading at their 52-week highs as of Tuesday, August 11.
The Biggest Names On The List
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 53 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIO | $9.6 Bil | 0.5% | 7.0% | 19.7% | 34.8% |
| CRNX | $8.8 Bil | 0.2% | 0.6% | 0.8% | 214.2% |
| NEU | $8.5 Bil | 0.8% | 3.2% | 21.1% | 26.2% |
| S | $7.6 Bil | 1.0% | 7.1% | 21.1% | 40.1% |
| VCTR | $7.2 Bil | 2.0% | 10.7% | 23.6% | 65.7% |
| ACT | $7.0 Bil | 1.3% | 2.6% | 8.1% | 35.2% |
| ZETA | $7.0 Bil | 5.8% | 20.2% | 33.3% | 55.6% |
| QLYS | $6.7 Bil | 1.4% | 16.9% | 24.3% | 46.6% |
| VSEC | $6.6 Bil | 9.3% | 12.9% | 17.9% | 57.9% |
| CGON | $6.5 Bil | 0.6% | 7.9% | 6.2% | 210.0% |
Growth and profitability do not always travel together.
Victory Capital (VCTR) shows a business whose results appear to support its stock price. The company’s revenue grew 51.5% over the last twelve months, its operating margin is 43.9%, and it trades at 15.3 times trailing earnings. This contrasts with a name like Crinetics Pharmaceuticals (CRNX), where revenue grew an explosive 2928.4% but its operating margin is -1302.5%.
A new high is a question, not an answer.
A 52-week-high list is a powerful screen for strength, and strong stocks often continue to perform. But a price is not a verdict on the underlying business. The disciplined approach is to treat this list not as a set of buy signals, but as a starting point. The essential work is to determine if the business fundamentals justify the new price level.
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.
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.