34 Small Cap Stocks Just Made New 52-Week Highs
A list of new highs shows a sharp divide between price gains and business growth.
Biotechnology placed 9 names on Tuesday’s list of 34 Small Cap stocks trading at their 52-week highs, based on a screen of companies with a market value above $2 billion. The largest is Match (MTCH), with a market value of about $9.8 billion.
Yet the more striking figure may belong to Twist Bioscience (TWST), which has gained 75.0% over the last month. This raises the essential question for any high list: is the business keeping pace with the stock price? Below are the 10 largest names on the list.
The Biggest Names On The List
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 34 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MTCH | $9.85 Bil | 1.1% | 9.0% | 8.7% | 15.7% |
| APGE | $9.39 Bil | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 252.4% |
| TWST | $9.34 Bil | 7.5% | 30.4% | 75.0% | 429.6% |
| KMX | $9.12 Bil | 2.3% | 11.9% | 10.0% | 6.9% |
| CRNX | $8.83 Bil | 0.1% | 0.2% | 1.2% | 174.5% |
| SSRM | $8.06 Bil | 1.6% | 23.7% | 49.3% | 129.4% |
| SRRK | $7.41 Bil | 0.1% | 6.5% | 19.0% | 64.1% |
| MTG | $6.75 Bil | 0.5% | 0.4% | 4.7% | 13.5% |
| TFX | $6.2 Bil | 1.4% | 6.3% | 7.2% | 9.5% |
| TVTX | $6.16 Bil | 2.7% | 4.9% | 18.2% | 273.9% |
Which names tell the day’s story?
The list contains very different profiles of strength. Match (MTCH) trades at 13.9 times trailing earnings. Over the last twelve months, its revenue grew 1.7% and its operating margin is 29.6%.
Compare that to a name like Twist Bioscience (TWST). Over the last twelve months, its revenue grew 19.2%, but its operating margin is -32.0%. One is a story of profitability at a new high, the other is a story of high growth.
How should an investor treat a 52-week high?
Strength can persist, and a stock at its highest price of the year is a clear signal of market favor. But a price is not a verdict on the business itself.
The disciplined move is always the same: to check whether the underlying fundamentals can earn the new valuation. The list is a starting point for work, not the conclusion.
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: 15 of the 34 names are Health Care stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, a biotech ETF like XBI, which holds 3 of these names, is one way to own part of 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.