15 Large Cap Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Tuesday
A list of stocks at yearly highs shows a heavy concentration in a single part of the market.
ExxonMobil (XOM), with a market value of about $706.7 billion, is the largest company trading at a new high on Tuesday. As of Tuesday, September 15, there are 15 Large Cap US and Canada-listed stocks in the Trefis coverage universe trading at their 52-week highs.
The list is heavily weighted to one area. 11 of the 15 names are in the Energy sector, all while the S&P 500 has returned -2.4% over the last month. Does this narrow strength signal anything about the broader market?
The Biggest Names On The List
The table below shows the 10 largest of the 15 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| XOM | $706.74 Bil | 2.6% | 5.4% | 6.4% | 55.3% |
| CVX | $428.98 Bil | 2.6% | 3.8% | 9.8% | 44.1% |
| CRWD | $246.11 Bil | 3.0% | 15.5% | 11.8% | 122.4% |
| TMO | $237.96 Bil | 4.6% | 6.4% | 9.1% | 34.4% |
| VZ | $214.44 Bil | 0.3% | 2.1% | 6.1% | 25.0% |
| COP | $171.36 Bil | 3.3% | 4.6% | 12.1% | 57.6% |
| MPC | $118.73 Bil | 3.6% | 3.3% | 15.9% | 131.7% |
| VLO | $116.73 Bil | 3.7% | 3.7% | 16.2% | 158.7% |
| CNQ | $107.12 Bil | 2.4% | 2.2% | 8.4% | 74.6% |
| PSX | $106.22 Bil | 3.1% | 2.2% | 14.0% | 108.6% |
This screen covers US and Canada-listed stocks in the Trefis coverage universe. Large Cap here means a market value above $40 billion.
Is there business growth to match the new highs?
The two largest names on the list, both from the Energy sector, show positive results. ExxonMobil (XOM) trades at 21.6 times trailing earnings, and its revenue grew 9.6% over the last twelve months, and its operating margin was 10.7%. Chevron (CVX) trades at 20.8 times trailing earnings, and its revenue grew 11.2% over the last twelve months, and its operating margin was 12.4%.
A different profile appears in the Information Technology sector. For CrowdStrike (CRWD), its revenue grew 24.3% over the last twelve months, and its operating margin was -2.2%.
So is a 52-week high a buy signal?
A stock trading at its highest price of the past year is a sign of strength, and that strength can persist. But a price is not a verdict on a business.
The disciplined next step is always the same. A new high is a prompt to check if the underlying business fundamentals can earn the market’s new valuation. The price is just the beginning of the work.
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: 11 of the 15 names are Energy stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, an energy ETF like XLE, which holds 5 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 S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400, and the Russell 2000. Use the high list for ideas; use the portfolio for the compounding.