27 S&P 500 Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
A new list of market leaders shows strength concentrated in tech, but the business stories behind the highs vary widely.
Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals leads today’s list with 4 names. As of Thursday, 27 S&P 500 stocks are trading at their 52-week highs, a group led in size by Merck (MRK) with a market value of about $335.1 billion.
The central question is what kind of strength this is. The list contains giants with vastly different growth and valuation profiles, from rapid growers to mature operators. Below are the names hitting new highs.
The Ten Largest At New Highs
- The 52-Week-High List: 60 Small Cap Names On Thursday
- 27 Mid Cap Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Thursday
- Where The Selling Ran Deepest: 1 S&P 500 Stock At 52-Week Lows
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 24 Large Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
- 11 Stocks Hit 52-Week Lows On Thursday
- S&P 500 Movers | Winners: WDAY, SNDK, GDDY | Losers: TPR, CSCO, COHR
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 27 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRK | $335.1 Bil | 2.0% | 5.6% | 9.7% | 74.4% |
| DELL | $320.9 Bil | 2.1% | 13.0% | 20.0% | 253.6% |
| PANW | $317.2 Bil | 2.3% | 10.2% | 11.9% | 125.8% |
| AMGN | $225.6 Bil | 0.4% | 3.2% | 16.6% | 51.0% |
| SCHW | $192.2 Bil | 0.7% | 2.2% | 7.1% | 12.6% |
| SBUX | $123.7 Bil | 0.1% | 3.2% | 3.3% | 19.3% |
| ABNB | $110.7 Bil | 2.8% | 22.1% | 24.8% | 52.2% |
| MPC | $105.1 Bil | 2.3% | 19.1% | 19.1% | 128.4% |
| VLO | $102.2 Bil | 3.8% | 13.2% | 17.6% | 162.6% |
| USB | $101.3 Bil | 0.2% | 2.1% | 3.4% | 48.1% |
Is every new high built on the same foundation?
Consider the contrast between two of the largest companies on the list. Dell Technologies (DELL) has gained 20.0% over the last month, supported by revenue that grew 38.6% over the last twelve months. The stock trades at 38.2 times trailing earnings.
Merck (MRK), the list’s largest member, has gained 9.7% over the last month while its revenue grew 4.6%. It trades at 105.5 times trailing earnings. Elsewhere, Palo Alto Networks (PANW) is at a new high while trading at 376.3 times trailing earnings.
A 52-week high is a starting point for questions, not an answer.
A list of stocks at their strongest prices of the year is a useful screen for what is working in the market. Strength often persists.
But a high price is not a verdict on a business, only a reflection of current sentiment. The disciplined next step is to look at the underlying fundamentals. A new high should prompt an investor to ask whether the company’s revenue growth and margins can earn that new 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.
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.