The 52-Week-High List: 18 S&P 500 Names On Friday
A narrow list of market leaders is dominated by one particular industry group.
As of Friday, 18 S&P 500 stocks are trading at their 52-week highs. This is a focused list, with a notable concentration in the Financials sector: Asset Management & Custody Banks account for 4 names, with Diversified Banks and Regional Banks adding 2 names each.
While the largest company on the list is Merck (MRK) with a market value of about $335.8 billion, the central question is what this clustering of financials implies about the market’s current leadership. The full list of names follows.
The Ten Largest At New Highs
- How Will Toll Brothers Stock React To Its Upcoming Earnings?
- How Will Keysight Technologies Stock React To Its Upcoming Earnings?
- How Will Home Depot Stock React To Its Upcoming Earnings?
- The Premium On ConocoPhillips Keeps Growing. So Does The Case For Diamondback Energy and EQT
- Phillips 66 Stock Rides A 5-Day Winning Streak To A 15% Gain
- A 5-Day Winning Streak Has SanDisk Stock Up 35%
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MRK | $335.8 Bil | 0.2% | 5.6% | 6.4% | 69.7% |
| SCHW | $194.0 Bil | 1.2% | 3.5% | 8.4% | 17.7% |
| BNY | $112.8 Bil | 0.6% | 3.6% | 1.9% | 63.0% |
| PNC | $104.1 Bil | 0.7% | 1.7% | 1.5% | 37.2% |
| USB | $101.7 Bil | 0.4% | 2.3% | 2.2% | 46.0% |
| PSX | $93.9 Bil | 0.4% | 14.6% | 16.0% | 97.1% |
| OKE | $59.9 Bil | 2.5% | 9.9% | 3.4% | 32.9% |
| STT | $53.4 Bil | 1.0% | 3.8% | 3.3% | 76.4% |
| LYV | $43.8 Bil | 1.3% | 4.3% | 4.8% | 18.6% |
| PRU | $43.5 Bil | 0.3% | 3.2% | 5.8% | 23.1% |
Does a 105.7 P/E ratio match the business?
Merck (MRK) stands out for its valuation. The stock trades at 105.7 times trailing earnings, a steep multiple for any company, let alone one of its size. That price level is paired with revenue growth of 4.6% over the last twelve months and an operating margin of 10.5%. For comparison, another large name on the list, Charles Schwab (SCHW), trades at 19.1 times trailing earnings while its revenue grew 20.3% over the same period.
A new high is the start of the work, not the end.
A list of stocks at their strongest price of the last year is a map of what has worked. Strength can persist. But a price is not a verdict on a business, it is a reflection of sentiment. The disciplined approach is to treat this list not as a set of recommendations, but as a starting point for research. The essential question is always whether the underlying business fundamentals justify the new, higher price.
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: 10 of the 18 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.