5 S&P 500 Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Monday
A tight cluster of energy names dominates a short list of stocks at their yearly price peaks.
The S&P 500 has returned a modest 2.7% over the last month, but a specific corner of the market is showing much greater price strength. As of Monday, just 5 S&P 500 stocks are trading at their 52-week highs, with the list heavily concentrated in a single part of the economy.
The group is almost entirely composed of Energy companies, which account for 4 of the 5 names. The only other company is from the Information Technology sector. The central question is whether the underlying business performance of these names justifies their recent price runs. Here is the full list.
The Complete 52-Week-High List
Here are all 5 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MPC | $110.13 Bil | 1.2% | 3.0% | 18.3% | 111.7% |
| VLO | $106.96 Bil | 1.9% | 3.7% | 14.7% | 142.5% |
| PSX | $99.13 Bil | 1.1% | 1.9% | 17.1% | 91.1% |
| SLB | $90.09 Bil | 4.8% | 11.3% | 21.2% | 69.2% |
| CRWD | $58.61 Bil | 5.8% | 21.1% | 21.0% | 109.0% |
One name’s price run has outpaced its recent business growth.
SLB (SLB) posted the strongest one-month gain on the list, up 21.2%. Yet over the last twelve months, its revenue grew 2.5%, the slowest of any company here with positive margins. The stock now trades at 28.9 times trailing earnings. For comparison, Marathon Petroleum (MPC) gained 18.3% over the last month while its revenue grew 15.0% over the last twelve months, and it trades at 12.6 times trailing earnings. The list’s one technology name, CrowdStrike (CRWD), shows the fastest revenue growth at 24.3% over the last twelve months, but its operating margin is -2.2%.
A high price is a question, not an answer.
A list of stocks at their highest price of the year is a useful screen for strength. Price leadership often persists. But a 52-week high is a data point, not a verdict on a company’s quality or a signal to buy. The disciplined next step is always the same: to look past the price and determine if the business fundamentals can support, and grow into, the new valuation. A strong price is earned by a strong business.
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: 4 of the 5 names are Energy stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, an energy ETF like XLE, which holds 4 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.