7 S&P 500 Stocks Hit 52-Week Highs On Tuesday
A short list of new highs is heavily concentrated in one part of the market.
CrowdStrike (CRWD), with a market value of about $266.7 billion, is the largest name on today’s list of stocks at their highest price of the past year. As of Tuesday, September 29, there are 7 S&P 500 stocks trading at their 52-week highs.
The list is dominated by a single area of the market. Health Care accounts for 5 of the 7 names, while the S&P 500 itself has returned -0.4% over the last month. Does this narrow strength point to a durable trend or just an isolated pocket of gains?
The Full List, Largest First
Here are all 7 names, sorted by market capitalization, with returns over four windows:
| Tickers | Market Cap |
1D % Chg |
1W % Chg |
1M % Chg |
1Y % Chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CRWD | $266.66 Bil | 1.3% | 5.1% | 20.3% | 118.3% |
| TMO | $252.14 Bil | 0.1% | 3.2% | 9.3% | 46.9% |
| MRNA | $80.98 Bil | 3.1% | 11.4% | 47.4% | 730.8% |
| WAT | $43.53 Bil | 0.1% | 4.1% | 6.9% | 52.0% |
| NTAP | $41.63 Bil | 2.3% | 8.4% | 11.8% | 77.5% |
| WST | $26.67 Bil | 0.3% | 1.5% | 11.6% | 44.5% |
| RVTY | $17.05 Bil | 1.2% | 6.6% | 18.6% | 82.2% |
Which new high is built on a stronger foundation?
Two names from the Information Technology sector show how different the businesses can look behind a 52-week high. NetApp (NTAP) trades at 28.9 times trailing earnings, and its revenue grew 12.2% over the last twelve months, and its operating margin was 26.0%.
Compare that to Waters (WAT), which trades at 262.0 times trailing earnings (on trailing earnings that include at least one loss quarter, so the multiple is not comparable to a clean-year multiple). Its revenue grew 52.5% over the last twelve months, and its operating margin was 8.2%.
A 52-week high is a starting point, not a conclusion.
A list of stocks at their yearly highs is a useful screen for strength. But a price is not a verdict on a business. The disciplined next step is always the same: to look past the stock chart and check whether the company’s growth and margins can support the new, higher valuation.
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: 5 of the 7 names are Health Care stocks. When a whole group is making new highs together, a health care ETF like XLV, 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.
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 S&P 500, the S&P MidCap 400, and the Russell 2000. Admire the list; own the system.