12 S&P 500 Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Wednesday
A handful of large companies are trading at their strongest prices of the year, but their underlying stories differ.
Asset Management & Custody Banks and Publishing each placed 2 names on the list of stocks at 52-week highs. As of Wednesday, 12 S&P 500 stocks are trading at their strongest price of the last year. The largest is Union Pacific (UNP), with a market value of about $184.3 billion, having gained 5.5% over the last month.
The core question for any name at a new peak is whether the business fundamentals support the price. Below are ten of the largest.
The Ten Largest At New Highs
- S&P 500 Stocks At 52-Week Lows: Wednesday’s Full List
- Where The Selling Ran Deepest: 9 Stocks At 52-Week Lows
- S&P 500 Movers | Winners: LITE, ANET, CHRW | Losers: MRNA, RDDT, GDDY
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 24 Small Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
- Market Movers | Winners: ANF, GTN-A, CAPR | Losers: GENB, EMAT, SYRE
- Where The Buying Ran Strongest: 10 Mid Cap Stocks At 52-Week Highs
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 12 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UNP | $184.32 Bil | 0.3% | 2.9% | 5.5% | 42.3% |
| SBUX | $123.61 Bil | 2.6% | 3.3% | 5.8% | 29.7% |
| MSI | $80.79 Bil | 0.4% | 1.3% | 10.7% | 7.0% |
| STT | $53.91 Bil | 0.3% | 4.2% | 6.1% | 72.8% |
| IQV | $44.04 Bil | 0.8% | 4.9% | 7.6% | 39.1% |
| DGX | $27.2 Bil | 0.2% | 1.3% | 3.8% | 39.5% |
| EXPD | $25.4 Bil | 0.6% | 2.0% | 10.9% | 59.7% |
| NWS | $19.52 Bil | 0.3% | 5.1% | 10.8% | 2.2% |
| NWSA | $17.15 Bil | 0.1% | 5.1% | 9.9% | 3.5% |
| IVZ | $14.88 Bil | 0.8% | 2.4% | 12.8% | 57.4% |
Is every new high built on the same foundation?
Consider Motorola Solutions (MSI), which has gained 10.7% over the last month. The company’s revenue grew 10.3% over the last twelve months, with an operating margin of 25.2%.
Starbucks (SBUX) presents a different picture. The stock trades at 62.4 times trailing earnings, while its revenue grew 4.5% over the last twelve months. Both stocks are at yearly highs, but the numbers show distinct profiles of growth and valuation.
A high price is a question, not an answer.
A list of stocks at their highest prices of the year is a map of where money has been. Strength can persist. But a price is not a verdict on a business; it is simply a level the market has reached.
The disciplined work is to look past the price and ask if the underlying growth and margins earn the new valuation. The S&P 500 (SPY) has returned +3.4% over the last month for context.
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.