17 S&P 500 Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Thursday
A new list of market highs is heavily concentrated in one part of the economy, raising questions about the breadth of the current strength.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), with a market value of about $670.3 billion, is trading at its highest price in a year. As of Thursday, it is one of 17 S&P 500 stocks at a 52-week high, a focused list given the S&P 500 itself has returned just +0.4% over the last month.
The list is heavily concentrated in the Health Care sector, which accounts for 9 of the 17 names. This raises a key question: are these new highs backed by business expansion, or have prices simply run ahead of fundamentals? The data for the largest names follows.
The 10 Largest, By Market Cap
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The table below shows the 10 largest of the 17 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JNJ | $670.29 Bil | 1.2% | 4.8% | 8.6% | 59.9% |
| DELL | $335.14 Bil | 4.9% | 9.3% | 11.6% | 321.7% |
| AMGN | $239.82 Bil | 0.3% | 1.6% | 9.5% | 60.8% |
| VZ | $210.86 Bil | 0.7% | 2.3% | 8.9% | 23.6% |
| VRTX | $141.55 Bil | 0.2% | 1.9% | 15.1% | 40.7% |
| BMY | $139.04 Bil | 0.6% | 1.7% | 7.0% | 50.2% |
| BNY | $112.75 Bil | 1.4% | 1.3% | 3.5% | 59.7% |
| MPC | $112.05 Bil | 0.2% | 6.6% | 30.6% | 120.2% |
| VLO | $108.98 Bil | 1.3% | 7.0% | 22.6% | 143.6% |
| CAH | $57.93 Bil | 1.3% | 5.7% | 3.9% | 66.8% |
Is every new high built on the same foundation?
Consider Dell Technologies (DELL). The stock has gained 11.6% over the last month and now trades at 39.9 times trailing earnings. That valuation is paired with revenue growth of 38.6% over the last twelve months. In contrast, Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) has a more modest valuation of 31.9 times trailing earnings, alongside revenue growth of 8.1% over the last twelve months. Both are at highs, but the underlying growth stories are quite different.
A 52-week high is a price, not a verdict.
Stocks trading at their strongest price of the last year are, by definition, working for investors. Strength often signals a healthy business and can persist. But a high price is not the same as a high value. The disciplined next step is to look past the price chart and check if the business fundamentals, revenue, margins, and earnings, truly support the new level.
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: 9 of the 17 names are Health Care stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, a healthcare ETF like XLV, which holds 6 of these names, is one way to own part of the group’s strength without betting on which single name leads it from here.
Chasing Highs Is A Reflex. Owning Strength Is A System
A 52-week-high list is seductive: everything on it has been going right. But buying a stock because it is at its high is buying a price, and prices revert; what persists is the quality underneath the run.
The Trefis High Quality (HQ) Portfolio is built to own that quality before and after it makes headlines: roughly 30 businesses selected for consistent cash generation, strong margins, and resilient balance sheets, sized and rebalanced with rules. 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. Admire the list; own the system.